By Nathan N. Mulbah
Introduction
May 03 every year is celebrated as World Press Freedom Day. The day is celebrated with appropriate programs by various press organizations the world over.
The World Press Freedom Day was brought about by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993. This came about following a recommendation from the United Nations Education and Scientific Cooperation’s (UNESCO) General Conference.
The foundation of the World Press Freedom Day can be traced to the Windhoek Declaration. It can be recalled that a landmark statement was made on May 3, 1991, in Windhoek, Namibia, advocating for a free, independent, and pluralistic press in Africa and across the globe.
The World Press Freedom Day is celebrated globally through conferences, media campaigns, and awareness drives, this day reminds the world that press freedom is essential for truth, transparency, and informed societies.
Here in Liberia, the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) organized appropriate programs to commemorate the day. This year’s occasion commenced with a parade from the Headquarters of the PUL on Carey Street to the Monrovia City Hall where an indoor program was held.
The occasion commemorating the day’s celebration in Liberia was climaxed with a soccer encounter between the Print and Electronic media of the PUL. The match ended 2-2 and was parked with lots of fun and good memories.
The global theme for the 2025 World Press Freedom Day was “A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the Face of the Environmental Crisis”. This year’s theme essentially emphasized the essential role of independent journalism in reporting environmental degradation and climate change. While the local theme in Liberia was: “Sustaining Independent Journalism and Press Freedom in the Digital Age”.
The Acting Managing Director of the Liberia Telecommunication Authority (LTA), Mr. Abduly Kamara, served as keynote speaker and emphasized the need for journalists to be trained in various strands of digital portfolio in this age of Information Technology evolution.
The 2025 World Press Freedom Day celebration came at a time when the mass media operation in Liberia is being beset with serious setbacks and mountainous hurdles that are challenging the very foundation of the existence of the Liberian media.
Despite the numerous challenges that are bedeviling the Liberian media, we can safely add that over the period of the existence of the Liberia media in the democratic space of Liberia, it has contributed meaningfully to the development of our budding democracy.
The Liberian press, as the watch dog of the society, has played towering role in protecting, nurturing and developing democracy and a well cultured and civil society across the length of breadth of Liberia.
Pointedly, the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) serves as the umbrella organization of the press in Liberia. The PUL, as an overhead group of the media in Liberia, has different auxiliaries press groups to aid the union functions in Liberia.
The various auxiliaries of the PUL include but not limited to the Female Journalists Association of Liberia (FEJAL), Reporters Association of Liberia, Legislative Reporters Of Liberia (LEGISPOL), Judiciary Reporters of Liberia, Environmental Journalists Association of Liberia etcetera.
The capability and capacity of the Liberian media has always been beefed up by the level of tutelage and learning journalists were able to obtain from the many journalism and mass communication training entities that have been established for the training of media people.
Besides the University of Liberia, United Methodist University and African Methodist Episcopal University, there are myriads of other middle level media training institutions involved in the training of journalists to do media work in Liberia.
Also, there are routine training of media personnel by media development support groups in the regular trainings of journalists in the various media training initiatives undertaking across the country for the growth and development of the Liberian media.
Challenges
Despite the training opportunities for journalism development in Liberia, the Liberian press is faced with many challenges and problems key among which is the migration of journalists from the profession to seek greener pasture in other professions.
For example, of late, the journalism profession in Liberia has seen a phenomenal migration of journalists from mainstream journalism to Public Relations just to make ends meet. Some journalists have become journalist propagandist to political office holders while other have moved on to provide services in civil society organizations and other areas that pays more than journalism service.
We note with regret, the migration of journalism professionals to other profession and the serious negative repercussion it is having on the profession. The profession is now unfortunately being occupied in most cases by neophytes or chaps who are very green and have nothing to write home about. We hope this trend will be remedy in the not too distance future.
Difference In The Journalism Profession
Now there is a disturbing event unfolding in the Liberian media. This is the emerging libeling of all people associated with media work as journalist. For instance, there are Disk Jockey, Continuity Announcers, Music Entertainment Presenters, Talk Show Hosts and Political Commentators who have been erroneously referred to as journalists
There are even folks who have set up platforms and doing podcast outside Liberia but commenting on Liberian affairs who pretend to be journalists whereas they are not. It is this group of people who often transgress dangerously and disrespect all the rules on the books governing journalism practice.
In fact, some of folk podcasting from abroad pretend to know everything about journalism but low and behold they are not schooled in the profession properly and their output leaves much to be desired.
On the flip side, there are avalanche of people reporting for Community Based Radio stations who have not done any training in journalism who presents themselves as journalists but low and behold they are a far cry from the field of journalism.
Moreover, in this age of internet penetration, there have been a surged in citizen journalism thus making most Liberians to depend on facebook and other internet portals and handles for news consumption. This new development is negatively affecting dependence on mainstream journalism for news update.
At this critical juncture, we pray that the society will pay journalists well so as to prevent journalist from migrating to other professions for want of better salary owing to the deplorable underpayment of mainstream journalist
Conclusion
As we reflect on the celebration of the 2025 World Press Freedom Day, it is appropriate to highlight the vital role of a free and independent press in upholding democracy and justice. The day’s celebration also highlights the importance of freedom of the press and the fundamental role of journalism in strengthening democracy. We ardently hope that going forward journalism in Liberia will play a meaningful role in advancing our democracy.
