MONROVIA – The Commissioner General of the Liberia Maritime Authority, Lenn Eugene Nagbe, has lamented that journalists in Liberia are paid less than the impact they make on society.
By: Henry Karmo [email protected]
He spoke over the weekend when he served as a panelist at a one-day lecture series organized by “The Embassy Tree”, a professional and social group in Paynesville.
Nagbe, a media expert, said, “Regardless of their important role in society, journalists in Liberia are the most underpaid group of professionals.”
According to Nagbe, there is no better time to discuss the role of the media in elections than now, especially at a time when Liberians are going to elections. He stated that there can be no democracy without free and fertile media.
“One of the ways you know an autocratic state is by suppression of the media,” he said.
Speaking on media neutrality, he also said that neutrality in the media is not a requirement. What is required by media institutions and professionals is being balanced and giving an opportunity to everyone to be heard.
Nagbe said, “In most countries that are democratic, the government doesn’t control editorial content. The government is a political party that has an objective. If they are allowed, those editorials will not be balanced or objective. The way the media is constructed provides a platform for a diversity of ideas. In spite of the fact that the media provides a platform for the exchange of ideas, one of the drawbacks is what I call silent measures, which is the failure by the government to pay debts owed to media entities.”
According to Commissioner Nagbe, for the media to perform its role, it has to be fertile. “The second challenge is training and capacity. It is more difficult for a non-lawyer to practice than for a non-journalist to practice journalism.”
Meanwhile, Nagbe has challenged politicians in Liberia to exert their rights by demanding a space and platform on government-owned media institutions to be heard during these elections.
According to him, politicians should test the legal process if they are being denied by government-owned media entities, because the court will not do for them what they fail to do for themselves.
“It’s upon every citizen and politician to exert their rights in demanding an opportunity to be heard through government-owned media entities. The court will not do for you what you cannot do for yourself,” he said.