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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | The Liberian Press: Quo Vadis? |
| Author: | Best, Kenneth Y. |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Periodical: | Liberian Studies Journal |
| Volume: | 22 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 45-66 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Liberia |
| Subjects: | press freedom of the press Literature, Mass Media and the Press |
| Abstract: | The press in Liberia was rich and vibrant during the first 125 years of the country's founding. It took some 80 years for the authorities' intolerance to show its head, but it was under President William V.S. Tubman that the Liberian press, for the first time, began to experience serious reversals in the form of assaults on press freedom, freedom of speech and political pluralism. This went on under Tubman's successors, William R. Tolbert, Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor. Could the press have saved the situation? Maybe. But if the men and women at the top remain stubborn and selfish, and if the people in the middle and at the bottom remain apathetic and indifferent, then things will remain unchanged. The author argues that journalists must begin to rebuild the press in Liberia, first by taking care of the basic needs, viz. training and capital. Furthermore, the Liberian press must strive to be an ethical press. The media should play a forthright and constructive role in reconciliation. The media must help mobilize the Liberian people to protect and defend their rights, as well as to exercise their responsibilities in society so that no one will ever take advantage of them again. This is the way the media can help build a democracy. Ref. |