Monrovia – Press Union of Liberia (PUL) President Charles Coffey is calling on lawyers working as Public Defenders to work with the union in providing legal services for journalists who come in conflict with the law but cannot afford legal fees.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian [email protected]
Cuffey made the plea Tuesday, April 23, when over 40 public defenders attended a week-long specialized media law training organized by Internews with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“I am aware of the problem you are facing some of you don’t have vehicles, yet you have to move through the bad roads to go to the rural parts of the country to defend indigent Defendants but we need to work together because there is a need for an independent Judiciary and media to enhance the rule of law,” said Cuffey.
Addressing the lawyers on the work of Journalists at the on-going training, Cuffey noted that Journalists have a critical role to play in national development because they provide the requisite information for the public good on the working of the government and that in the course of the work of the journalists they are guarded by ethical principle against what is right and wrong.
Cuffey noted that despite the threats of lawsuit media institutions are currently experiencing, the media is there to report all that the media has to do.
Troubled by lawsuit filed sometimes by government officials and that of private individuals against some journalists for the stories they report against them, Cuffey stated that it is frustrating to see the court imposing fines on some media institutions for libel as high as US$50,0000 when such media entity does not have the asset that commensurates with the fines.
He said public defenders should work with the PUL to aid journalists during the legal process.
Cuffey reiterated that he was not against the people running to court to file a lawsuit against media entity for the injury they allegedly suffered because it is one’s right to go to court for redress.
But he insists if the case against the media entity has a political undertone this definitely means the action is intended to silence that media institution.
In the wake of the call, the President of the Association of Public Defenders, Atty. Edwina Barchue urged the PUL president to provide the names and cell numbers of all public defenders in the country.
Meanwhile, speaking about the recent headquarters gifted to the Female Journalists Association of Liberia (FEJAL) by President George Weah, Cuffey hailed the gesture.
“The President’s offer to FEJAL will not stop the female journalists’ advocacy neither will it change the contents of their news stories because they are from various media institutions,” Cuffey said.