6th Commencement Speech delivered by Frank Sainworla, Jr, Managing Editor/ Public Trust Media Group (PTMG)- fsainworla@yahoo.com
Peter Quaqua School of Journalism (PQSJ)
Victory Outreach Church, Congo Town near Monrovia
Thursday, December 23, 2021
The Founder/Executive Director and Administration, Peter Quaqua School of Journalism- PQSJ; Faculty and Staff:
Government officials and members of the Diplomatic Corps present here:
Members of the Clergy:
The 125 Members of the 6th Graduating Class, Relatives, Friends and Well-wishers:
My Colleagues of the Fourth Estate:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Firstly, may we observe a moment of silence in memory of some of our media colleagues who have gone to the great beyond:
I greet you on behalf of the management and staff of the Public Trust Media Group (PTMG), owner of the news website—www.newspublictrust.com.
I’m deeply honoured to have been chosen to deliver this 6th Commencement Keynote Address today, just on the eve of Christmas 2021. And I’ve been asked to speak on the theme: “The Future of Journalism in Liberia: Challenges & Prospects.”
Introduction:
Journalists are on a mission. First, a Journalist is a human being, a citizen of a country, in our case-Liberia; and then a Journalist by profession.
Our mission is to promote the interest of the public as a patriotic citizen who loves his/her country, with a commitment to good and ethical Journalism. We must at all times be able to professionally strike the balance in the supreme interest of the public.
A vibrant, ethical and independent media is not a media that is in bed with or in the pocket of the ruling establishment. Neither is a vibrant, ethical and independent media a media that is in bed with or in the pocket of the opposition of special interest groups or political parties.
Remember that Ethics provide a moral map:
- God-based ethics – supernaturalism
- Supernaturalism makes ethics inseparable from religion. It teaches that the only source of moral rules is God.
- So, something is good because God says it is, and the way to lead a good life is to do what God wants.
- For Reference, I take two lines from the great professional and academic Journalism pioneer, Walter Williams’ Journalist Creed:
- “I believe that the journalism which succeeds best – and best deserves success – fears God and honors man.”
Challenged for the PUL:
The Press Union of Liberia or independent Liberian Journalism is at a crossroad.
It is high time for the PUL to clearly establish: who is a Journalist? What are the basic criteria needed for one to practice as a Journalist? What makes a Journalist different from a Public Relations Officer or a political commentator? At a national media convention sometime in the near future, these questions must be answered.
Now, in order to understand and appreciate the challenges facing Liberian Journalism today, we must do a SWOT analysis—that is know the STRENGTH, OPPORTUNITY, WEAKNESS AND THREAT.
This will adequately prepare us for future challenges. We must scrupulously adhere to categories of PUL membership, in line with PUL constitution as to who can be considered a full member or Associate member.
We (Journalists) must practice what we preach. As the conveyors of powerful messages, we must remember that the message is as good as the messenger. Canadian communication scholar, Marshall McLuhan said: “The medium is the message.”
As we (Journalists) speak truth to power, we must do it with the necessary moral authority. We must be even-handed and don’t be biased and influenced by “Kato” or “kafu” lying in our belly. But we must be accurate, balanced and fair, with malice to no one, and not even our detractors. Report the truth, and nothing but the truth.
If we must take side, we must at always be on the side of the truth and must stand resolutely. Ultimately, we must at all times put the interest of the public first, not politicians, political parties or demigods.
I and my colleagues at the state owned, ELBC (then located in the Ducor Hotel) during the infamous April 6 Monrovia fighting, actualized that: only Liberia was the looser and that there was a war of attrition under the then Council of State arrangement.
And of course, credit to these smart and fearless Liberian Journalists: Steve Kenneh, Harvey Rogers, Bockarie Musa, Hassan Kiawu, Decontee Jackson, William Dweh, Tetee Karneh, Zeogar Jaynes, Chesty Gbongon, Janet Johnson and Winston “Geebamu” Monbo.
It was their bravery, patriotism and professionalism that culminated into peace talks in 1996. The United Nations, the United States and our sub-regional brothers, ECOWAS later brokered yet another peace agreement that led to the holding of the first post-war elections in 1997.
Strength
Today, the media in Liberia is still blessed with a core group of committed, passionate and determined human resources, who are prepared to protect, promote and responsibly defend press freedom and free speech–now and tomorrow. And this strength must be vigorously consolidated.
Today, the PUL has an array of enterprising, youthful and passionate Reporters and Journalists. They include a crack team of hard working and professionally aggressive female Journalists who need to be empowered and protected.
Weakness
There are no doubt a number of weaknesses Liberian Journalism has to confront.
Undercapitalization of the media; lack of insurance, poor or no pay and conditions of service; Shortcoming in following up on stories; the unsolved US$100,000.00 PUL headquarters project scandal, which continues to cast a dark cloud on the credibility and integrity of the Union and Liberian Journalism as a whole. As you know, this amount in question was given by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf a number of years ago.
Indeed, this US$100-thousand saga continues to impinge on the integrity standing of the Union. And closure must be brought to this long-running financial scam. All those who allegedly embezzled, misappropriated and funneled the funds, which should have given us a headquarters building by now, must be made to account.
If we must hold politicians and newsmakers accountable, then we (Journalists) too must have the moral authority to do so. We must “practice what we preach”. We Journalists—Watchdogs—are not above the law in society, leading many members of the public to always ask: “Who watches the Watchdogs?”
Opportunity
Local opportunities are there, though they are too little and far between.
With the enormous power the media wield in this our democratic space, government, private businesses and other corporate entities must step up their advertising budget and partner with the media more.
The media must come forward by enhancing a more competitive environment.
There’s a need for media development groups to invest in commissioning independent media Ratings agency to do social-scientific research—audience surveys to derive at ratings of print and electronic media outlets in Liberia. Nowadays, every radio station now claims to be #1 in a vacuum. But sadly on no social-scientific basis—even the one just popping up in just weeks. Independent ratings are what is done in other African counties, Europe, the US and elsewhere.
We need to explore new opportunities created by the existence of the digital media:
- Collaboration by like-minded outlets and eventually possible mergers-many print media around the world are closing as online surges
- Changing our mindset of what constitutes news, restricting it mainly to political stories/issues
- With the Social and Digital media making the business more interactive, let’s redefine our relationship with readers, listeners and viewers whose interests are diverse
- As one communication scholar said, by doing so, “Journalism in this new media age can continue to try to keep up with these changes.”
Threat
Threat against Liberian Journalists is real, and it comes through brutality by state security forces and other kinds of attacks, the vast majority of which are yet to be redressed.
One example that stands out is the brutality meted out against our colleague, Zennu Miller of OK FM, which was eventually followed by his sudden death.
Another is a string of incidents of flogging of Journalists by state security forces, including FrontpageAfrica’s Christopher Walker and other Journalists over the last year, yet to date perpetrators have gone scot free.
After pressure from the PUL and the media community, President George Weah sometime ago set up a presidential investigation committee headed by Presidential Advisor, Dr. Lawrence Bropleh. But after over a year now, there is no outcome of the probe, no findings have been made public.
Consequently, the threat against Journalists is real and there appears to be little political will to stamp it. But we must however, always be on the alert, that as long as we are pursuing the truths and speaking truth to power (both in an outside government), Journalists become targets.
Acts of security brutality, crime and threat on the media are increasing in other parts of the world also.
On December 9, 2021, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released this report: “In its annual prison census, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) documented 24 killings of Journalists and has confirmed a record-breaking number of 293 journalists currently in prison.”
“Out of those 293 journalists, almost half are in prison in the top five worst-offending countries alone. These countries are China, Myanmar, Egypt, Vietnam and Belarus, with 50, 26, 25, 23 and 19 journalists in prison in each country, respectively.”
As self-preservation is the first rule of nature, we must develop creative ways to respond to lawfully respond to the threat against us in Liberia, remembering the catch words in this profession—“there is no story worth dying for”. But at the same time, we must not cow ourselves into submission and self-censorship. Come what may, the news must go and the truth must not be suppressed.
Let me also bring to your attention what I call, a self-inflicted threat. This comes through some of us (Journalists) bent on engaging in blackmail to extort money from newsmakers. Nowadays, some of our radio talk show hosts want to act and sound like political commentators such as Henry Cost and Menekpkei Dumoin.
- Opening of our news files and radio/online platforms to be chartered by the highest bidder in which the newsmakers beforehand knows the exact headlines that will be carried
- Newsmakers hiring for firing at their opponents or competitors on the radio and Social Media pages with ferocious attacks, without giving the other side (s) the right to reply; only because that slot is paid for, something that goes against the PUL code of conduct and ethics
- Sometimes, there are threats on the very lives of Journalists/media practitioners I call, Kato-induced threat
This means that one is given money by one party/newsmaker or another to “dirty that person or rage hell with that person” on air. Such a move endangers the lives of the very media personalities; for as the Biblical example goes “just for 30 pieces of silver”.
Beware PUL, let’s watch out for more of this in the run up to the 2023 presidential and general elections. And this sort of posture comes out of some of the quote: “private independent media”.
Now, another real threat is the one coming from the ever-increasing political ownership of the media in Monrovia and across Liberia.
The current political establishment and politicians’ increasing efforts to Balkanize and Weaponize the local media should sound alarm bells of the consequences and implications that lie ahead on Liberia’s media landscape.
The big question is: should we (ardent believers in independent professional Journalism) allow them to get by? The resounding answer is a big NO.
In the run up to the 2023 elections, this threat will become more pronounced. They are doing it under the guise of opening community radios.
Here is what I heard from concerned Journalists at a media forum in Monrovia last week:
Investigative Journalist, Varney Kamara said: “The PUL must stand against political ownership of the media. We see politicians opening radio stations all across the country. This is going to endanger the independence of the media and may even cause chaos in 2023.”
Another video Journalist remarked: “Politicians have encroached on the media, and this is getting very serious.”
To crown the concerns, the President of the Female Journalists Association of Liberia (FeJAL), Siatta Scott Johnson said at the same occasion: “We have to find a way to redeem ourselves as independent Journalists.”
Indeed, there is a real threat to independent Journalism today. There is not only a growing increase in political ownership of radio stations and other media outlets in Liberia, the politicians are said to be ready to offer more money to their proxies to unleash a litany of hate speech, incendiary comments to achieve their selfish political agenda, even at the detriment of national peace and stability.
The PUL must act and act decisively by naming and shaming those media actors using the radio to instill division and hatred. A clear line must be drawn between community radio and political propaganda radio. In fact, real Community Radio is established, owned, operated and supported by the community.
Therefore, international and local media development institution must see the writing on the wall and provide programs that would support the survival of the independent media through various mechanisms, including empowerment. For, without a strong and vibrant independent media, building and sustaining a vibrant democracy will only be a pipe dream. I propose the establishment of the Liberian Independent Media Conservation Endowment Fund.
The Liberian media has been in a bad shape economically for so long, a situation which has worsened due to the long-running Coronavirus Pandemic.
Due to the fact that most Reporters have little or no regular salaries or Social Safety net, many Journalists have resorted to mixing public relations/propaganda with Journalism.
I said many months ago on a local radio talk show: “Only the independent media can build a vibrant democracy not public relation media. That is something we should be able to understand.”
Aiding the media to actually be the voice of the voiceless, local and international media development groups must come in with added institutional support.
Going forward and call to action
Beware of what’s obtaining in the larger society–Journalists. My fellow colleagues and patriotic citizens, let’s remember that we’re not living in a vacuum, but in the larger society.
Deception and insincerity seem to be hijacking our governance system.
Flashback, those at the helm of national power today were in opposition for 12 years until the 2017 elections. Here is a short story of what happened immediately after the 2005 radio presidential debate which I co-hosted at Radio Veritas.
Immediately after the live debate, which was also on TV, I went to have lunch at a once popular restaurant between Randall and Carey Street in Monrovia.
There, were two of my young Liberian brothers and Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) stalwarts and leader—Acarious Moses Gray, now Montserrado County District # 8 Representative; Mulbah Morlu, now Chairman of the ruling CDC; and Rufus Neufville. They were enraged why the then CDC Presidential candidate (now President George Manneh Weah) had to yield to our penetrating follow up questions by admitting at the time that he did not graduate from high school at the Well Hairston high.
Astonishingly, I confronted them, saying that I admired Mr. Weah for his honesty then by admitting the truth. In their state of confusion over what was then the elections campaign upset, Gray, Morlu and Neufville asserted, “that’s why we told him to say he graduated from high school.”
That means he should have lied, been dishonest, deceptive and insincere. Later, I learnt that a number of others in Weah’s inner circle were pushing the same line prior to the 2005 presidential debate.
Here and abroad in all of my conversations, I always said that I respected Ambassador Weah for his honesty at the time.
Fast forward, well over 12 years later, President Weah and his CDC are at the helm of power.
Today, what is seen as a stream of deception and insincerity have marred some public pronouncements as to who foot the bills of “personal projects, ever since the CDC government took office nearly four years ago.
While in opposition for 12 years, Weah and his CDC party were always on the back of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her Unity Party government for what they said was the lack of transparency and accountability.
One would begin to think that it is perhaps some of the CDC elements such as Gray and Morlu who may be influencing the tilting towards such political deception.
President Weah and his CDC began this trend of deception back in 2018, with the re-roofing of over 200 homes in the Gibraltar community in the Clara Town suburb of Monrovia. At the time, the new Liberian leader declared that he would personally pay for the reroofing of the private homes to give back to an area he grew up; before becoming the multimillion dollar international professional footballer before becoming President on January 22, 2018.
Upon taking office, it was his promise to personally reroof over 200 private homes in Gibraltar amounting to over US 200-thousnad dollars and now it is his personal “Invincible Sports Park” project set to cost the national coffers half a million US dollars.
Back in 2018, the then Presidential Press Secretary, Sam Mannah clarified that the reroofing of all homes in Gibraltar would be funded by President Weah from his pocket.
Mr. Mannah described the swift commencement of the project a day after the visit as, a promise fulfilled by the President.
However, that promise ended up being fulfilled not from the pocket of the President but from the national coffers as seen in a leaked voucher from the Finance Ministry, which was published in FrontpageAfrica and other news outlets.
Another clear sign of lack of transparency, deception and insincerity has come with the latest “Invincible Sport Park” project being constructed near the James Spriggs Payne Airfield in Monrovia’s Sinkor suburb.
When he broke grounds for this private project in early February 2020, this is what President Weah said:
“I want you to know that I am developing the place as a public sports park as my personal contribution to the inhabitants of this area because this place prepared me to achieve in soccer.”
But today, in the 2022 draft national budget, half a million US dollars has been placed there for the Invincible Sports Park.
Of course, it is not all gloom and doom, as regards the current state of our governance system. Yes, some commendable and uplifting efforts have been made in several areas, including fiscal and monetary policy reforms at the Central Bank of Liberia and Finance Ministry, improvement in the Fisheries sector as well as payroll audit. Some reports from the World Bank and IMF speak to these improvements. Another is restructuring of our tax system so that 50% of Real Property Taxes collected can remain in the respective counties for local development, such as the pilot project now being rolled out in Margibi County.
However, such good moves are repeatedly been overshadowed by a trail of political deception and insincerity, also casting our minds back to the issue of the private jet from Burkina Fasco.
In addition to the deception and insincerity by the Executive is the one demonstrated by Lawmakers at the Capitol Building. They pretend to be in the interest when they’re principally interested in their own benefits. When volunteer teachers, nurses and actively functioning local officials such as chiefs and commissioners have been working for years without being placed on the payroll, their benefits have been rolling.
Now, the 103 Representatives and Senators are for the second year receiving appropriation of over US$30 thousand each, totaling well over 3 million US dollars for the so-called “Legislative Engagement Fund”.
With a big rise in the draft national budget of close to US$800 million in the fiscal year 2022/2023, not even five US dollars has been added to the meager salaries of civil servants.
As the public depend on media, Journalists have the challenge to always promote the rights of each and every citizen and those residing within our borders. We must not only report about rape and sexual and gender based violence, but we must follow up to the dead end of the stories until justice is served and the victims are adequately de-traumatized and rehabilitated, as well as victims of secrete and ritualistic killings.
In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was signed by our own country, Liberia and other states following the Second World War back in 1948, the right to life is supreme. And every human being—be they civilians or security forces– have the fundamental right to life.
A special call and challenge to my colleagues who were in Nimba to cover the Presidential county tour many months ago—follow up on the findings surrounding the death of Executive Protection Service Agent, Melvin Early in Tappita. He is alleged to have shot himself multiple times in the stomach and head.
Suicide Or Homicide: no probe result yet, nearly one year after that incident.
Circumstances surrounding the how it happen remain unclear as it was in February 2021 when the tragedy happened, with no outcome yet of what the EPS command promised as an immediate probe.
The EPS said in a press release then, that it had launched a full scale investigation to establish any potential reason of the suicide.
But the late EPS officer’s family has since questioned claim that Earley did indeed commit suicide and have been demanding swift investigation and justice.
So to our colleagues who covered that assignment—shed light on what you saw and know. To the locals in Tappita, say what you know and saw. And to the EPS Director, Frank Nyenkan, the ears of Journalists and the public are still opened to hear findings of this marathon investigation.
National leadership deficit
In Liberia today, there is a national leadership deficit, both at the level of the ruling political establishment and the opposition.
Now, it is not just leadership but a patriotic, robust, citizens-centered and exemplary leadership, something which is unfortunately in very short supply in our nation today.
The late vulnerable General Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State defines leadership this way:
“Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”
Mind you, Collin Powell was not only a leader in the political arena but a leader in the military, as former Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Good leadership is in short supply at various levels in our Liberian society today: At the top and lower levels of the state establishment, in the homes, schools, professional organizations, churches, mosques, NGOS, political parties, youth groups, etc.
Are our leaders solving problems or creating new ones? Are those being led (the governed) enthusiastic about bringing problems to them to solve nowadays? These are not happening because, as Colin Powell says: “They (the people in the nation, the kids in the homes and others) have either lost confidence that you (the leaders) can help or concluded you do not care.
“Pay for play”
Fellow colleagues of the Fourth Estate, we (Journalists) have a huge obligation to not only inform but educate the public. We must put national and international issues in their right historical perspectives. We must give deep reflections and analysis of issues in the society.
Challenges ahead of us include following up on stories going forward. Such stories and issues include the failure so far to set up a war and economic crimes court for Liberia, well over a decade after our fratricidal civil war, which killed about 250-thousand people.
Another is the recent US sanctions on former warlord and now Senator, Prince Y. Johnson and the “pay for play” corruption allegations. Indeed, we (Journalists) have a challenge through our reportage to ask the hard questions.
Here is how the Americans described “pay for play in a US Embassy statement issued in Monrovia on December 9, 2021:
“As a Senator, Johnson has been involved in pay-for-play funding with government ministries and organizations for personal enrichment. As part of the scheme, upon receiving funding from the Government of Liberia (GOL), the involved government ministries and organizations launder a portion of the funding for return to the involved participants. The pay-for-play funding scheme involves millions of U.S. dollars. Johnson has also offered the sale of votes in multiple Liberian elections in exchange for money.”
* Now, how far back this “pay for play”? We very well know her in Liberia it must be zeroing in to the 2005 elections, when former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her Unity Party first started courtship with Prince Johnson. Then, such courtship continued in the 2011 presidential and Legislative elections.
* Given a longstanding practice of funneling taxpayers’ money through PYJ, isn’t there a need for the US to sponsor another Kroll Audit on this “pay for play” scam, as our traditional friends did with the controversial 16 billion Liberian dollars saga and the 25 million US dollars mop-up operation?
* Is the US$1.2 million put in the 2022 draft national budget for the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Foundation under Gender Ministry, which the Minister herself said she not aware of, part of the “pay to play” deal, as 2023 elections approach? Yes, as Journalists, our job is to ask probing questions.
* Why was the US silent for years during the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s regime, when Senator Prince Y. Johnson served as Chairman of the Liberian Senate Standing Committee on Defense and National Security for almost the duration of that administration?
* Liberian Journalists also have a challenge to enlighten the Liberian people by asking: what kind of relationship did the Americans have with the very Prince Johnson and his rebel INPFL in 1990?
* In this era of strengthening transparency, which is crucial to defending democracy now under threat globally, our traditional friends must come clear as to the actual circumstances surrounding how former NPFL rebel leader and ex-President Charles Ghankay Taylor broke jail in a US high security federal prison? And how he ended up doing military training in Libya in the late 1980s—then at the height of the Cold War, especially ending up in a Western allie country, Ivory Coast, from where he launched his rebel invasion on Christmas eve of 1989?
To the graduates:
- Most Liberian Journalists nowadays arrive too soon—once they start getting bylines and being heard on radio, overnight they have become big time Journalists; even feeling on top of the world, bigger than Journalism itself.
- Humble yourselves: For me, I’ve several times won all of the PUL Journalism awards in Liberia: from Journalist of the Year, Best Talk Show host, best radio program producer of the year, etc.
- I’ve covered multiple elections in Liberia and abroad and stories in Mauritanian, the Gambia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Senegal, the United States, among others—yet I see myself first and foremost as a practicing Journalist reporting and covering the news.
- For example, I was marveled on Thursday, December 15, 2021 when I heard one of my favourite BBC Journalist, Rob Watson recalling how he covered British local elections in the 1980; and sometime ago, I was also feeling like a baby in Journalism when I heard another favorite BBC Journalist, David Willie recalling memories of his coverage of China when he served as BBC Beijing Correspondent in 1965—the very year of my birth.
- Remember always that Journalists on par with any other professionals in the world– doctors, engineers, Lawyers, etc, who are relevant and contributing to the development of my beloved Mama Liberia
- Be like me and other colleagues to be proud being an avid practitioner of good Journalism.
- Remember, everyone in Liberia doesn’t have be relevant and a serious contributor to national development only by being in politics.
- If you want to succeed in this noble profession and be a Journalist of professional integrity, please stay clear of mixing politics and propaganda with Journalism
Conclusion
Unlike other professions, the career we practice—Journalism—is an open book. What we write, film or say is read, seen and heard by the world 24-7. There are millions of non-media people who follow our platforms religiously every day, even more than some of us who are supposed to be Journalists.
Empirical research done by some academics shows: many of us don’t even keenly monitor our own outlets, let alone those of our competitors—both in print, on air and online.
This is a bad and unprofessional habit and it must stop, if we must be true professionals with high level of media literacy. Many of us when we shall have completed doing our one or two stories or ending our shifts, we are disengaged from monitoring, sharing notes, following up on how and what other competitors are doing in the business.
We can’t be working with a radio or newspaper and blank on content we carry. Even with the degrees and professional credentials, the learning cycle is not over until we die.
To close, I want to share with you what a friend and brother and former classmate at the University of Liberia many years ago, Saah David, Jr, who heads the REDD-plus environmental and climate change project office in Liberia said last week.
Mr. David said this at a forum held at the Monrovia City Hall during a specialized media forest reporting conference in Liberia.
“The media must be keen, willing and able to learn and challenge themselves. Engage the actors in various sectors; create research and investigative attitude; be transparent and unbiased.”
Graduates, as 125 of you leave the walls of the Peter Quaqua School of Journalism today, remember that your journey into the professional Journalism world is only just beginning, especially with the limited job opportunities available in our society.
However, from my own experience, I admonish you to be steadfast and cultivate a spirit of positive thinking. And with this, fired up by your passion for this noble profession of Journalism and most of all your faith in the one and Almighty Jehovah God, you will succeed.
Every morning you get up from bed, please say what I’ve been saying daily for many years now:
“This is the day, this is the year that the LORD has made. I’ll will rejoice and be glad in it, COME WHAT May. Let the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.”
To God be the glory, I thank you!!!