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CEMESP Launches
Documentation of Attacks on Freedom of Expression in Liberia 2006-2007
The Center for Media Studies and Peace Building (CEMESP) based in
Monrovia, Liberia on January 21 lunched a publication documenting
attacks on freedom of expression and the press in Liberia for the years
2006 and 2007. The report revealed that at an average of one journalist
or media worker was attacked every two weeks between April 2006 and
December 2007.
Titled ‘The Tragedy of Liberian Democracy’ the book highlights
the threats, intimidations, brutality and censorships that journalists,
media workers and individuals faced during the two years in focus and
includes comments and speeches by various media advocates in respect of
threats on the media and free expressions.
CEMESP Executive Director, Malcolm Joseph, noted in a statement at the
launch that while the majority of cases reported in the publication come
from government functionaries and their coconspirators, a lot of these
attacks unfortunately, also came from “civil society” activists. He
detailed numerous instances where civil society activists and fellow
journalists harassed the press. He cited the case of a media manager who
in December 2007 sued six editors for libel after they called on the
Press Union of Liberia (PUL) to investigate comments he had made on his
radio programme in which he justified police attacks on journalists.
CEMESP added that these “attacks obstruct the fundamental and universal
right of free expression, and show gross intolerance for the views of
others, effectively undermining the growth of democracy in Liberia.”
CEMESP further argued that this publication is to alert the community
about the tragedy that has befallen years of struggle for democracy and
human rights in Liberia.
The group said as part of further efforts to ensure that this right is
better understood, it has been at the center of a process to reform the
media environment in Liberia. by which, it hopes to transform the
Liberia Broadcasting System into a public service broadcaster and also
initiate the advocacy for a freedom of information Law to compel
government to make information in its custody freely available for any
citizen who request for them.
National Director of the Justice & Peace Commission in Liberia, Cllr.
Augustine Toe, welcomed the publication as a measure to account for
happenings in society. He shared with the Liberian media their agony,
frustration and pains they often face in their work.
The report “The Perennial Tragedy of Democracy" is available for
download at CEMESP site:
http://cemesp-liberia.org/Book_final_version.pdf. |
