BARCLYAVILLE, Grand Kru County – Madam Doris Nyanplane Ylatun, Superintendent of Grand Kru County, located in Southeastern Liberia, has alluded to journalistically unethical information dissemination by (many) members of the Liberian press community.
“Negative reporting, in any form, drives away investment, and hampers the growth and development of any nation,” Madam Ylatun said during her speech at the in-door segment of the celebration of the World Press Freedom Day, held in her County’s capital, Barclayville. The indoor program was on May 3—day three of the three-day event.
The World Press Freedom Day in Grand Kru County was organized by the Press Union of Liberia (PUL)
“Every nation of the World depends on its Press people to propagate its development projects. Therefore, I encourage the Liberian press to exhibit high level of professionalizing and engage in responsible reporting. You are doing well, but do more,” added Madam Superintendent, a former candidate for Grand Kru County’s Electoral District #1 in the House of Representatives, on the ticket of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), of now-Head of State George Manneh Weah, in Liberia’s Presidential and Legislative elections in 2017.
A former Coordinator of the Southeastern Women Development Association (SEWODA), covering six of the Counties making up Southeastern Liberia, Superintendent Doris N. Ylatun called attention of the assembled journalists to the on-going development projects in her County, on the platform of the national political leadership she represents in the County.
“I urge you to use the Barclayville Convention as a means to encouraging members of this noble profession to report to the world the true happenings in the County. If you ever visited Grand Kru County over the years, you will inform the Country about the great changes that are taking place. The Government is making progress. The construction of over 100 housing units and lightings in some parts of the County has brought relief to our people who were living under thatch houses in this modern world,” the Superintendent revealed.
She boasted about Grand Kru County’s current developmental march to catch up with other Counties—against many visitors’ reports about the County’s “infrastructural stagnations”: absence of roads in many parts and deplorability of many of existing roads, absence of electricity in over 80% of the County, absence of pipe water in the entire County, and many other deprivations.
“Indeed, Grand Kru is on the path to development. The County is moving ahead and well catching with the rest of the Country,” the political appointee announced.
At her conclusion of her speech, Superintendent Ylatun attempted flushing out fears of insecurity in the County’s guests, based on stories of “disappearances of persons” and “mysterious deaths of persons” that had lingered around Monrovia and other parts of the Country long time before the Press Union of Liberia’s leadership announcement of Grand Kru County as chosen place for celebration of the 2021’s World Press Freedom Day
“Feel free, you are under the protection of the people of the County. This County is loving and caring,” the Chief Host assured the guests.
During his speech earlier, the president of the Press Union of Liberia, Mr. Charles B. Coffey, Jr., touched on “responsible reporting” by members of the Liberian press community.
“Also report responsibly or objectively during your media duties,” the PUL helmsman cautioned.
The issue of ‘irresponsible reporting’ was indirectly touched by the event’s Keynote Speaker, Hon. Jonathan Fonati Koffa, Representative of Electoral District #2 (that covers Barclayville, place of the celebration), who is also Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
He said the United States Government relies, to a greater extent, on Liberian media reports for the American State Department’s human rights-related reports and other serious national issues of Liberia. However, the Keynote Speaker, added, the U.S. Government will have no confidence in subsequent published media reports from Liberian media institutions that published biased or negative stories from their reporters.
The post-civil war Liberian media is being critically lashed, and condemned in some cases, by majority of the citizenry and foreign inhabitants on “fabrications”, “biases”, or “political public relations” or “witch-hunting” in most of the aired or published “news stories”.