Liberia: In the Aftermath of War, Vibrant Newspapers Emerge

Monrovia, Liberia - In an era where most American newspapers are downsizing and fighting for survival, there seems to be no such slowdown in Liberia. On any given day on the streets of Monrovia, this country’s capital, readers have a choice of around 10 daily papers and a more than equal number of weekly publications. In fact, a new Monrovia-based newspaper made its debut here just this week: The Front Page, a well-known, web-based news site that is now printed with color photos on its cover.

In a city that is beginning to pull itself out of the devastation caused by 15 years of brutal civil strife, the presence of so many newspapers – and diverse opinions and voices – stands as a sign of encouragement about Liberia’s prospects. There are publications highly supportive of the administration of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia’s president. And there are strident voices in opposition. Some are neutral. But wherever these newspapers stand editorially, it is clear that there is a vibrant press here in the heart of an economically devastated country.

“Most Liberians are excited about the fact that, for the first time in many years, they have the opportunity to be heard,” said Joe W. Mulbah, the chairman of the mass communications department at the University of Liberia. “They have avenues and outlets where they can channel their information, where different opinions can be heard.”

Mr. Mulbah said that Liberia has one of the oldest newspaper industries in all of West Africa, explaining that journalism came to this country almost immediately after it was founded by free black Americans who landed here in the early 1800s (the first paper, the Liberian Herald, began printing in 1826).

“But the durability is difficult,” he said. “Many of the papers have collapsed because of the economic and social situation in this country. But what we’re seeing now is healthy. It’s also healthy to the government because the government gets to hear the views of several different people, including the opposition.”

During the civil conflict, which ended in 2003, many newspapers and radio stations here were shut down by the former president, Charles Taylor, leaving the media dominated by voices that were run by – or favorable to – Mr. Taylor. The state television station, ELTV, was off the air for most of the civil war and has resumed broadcasting principally as a commercial station. In the years to come, the situation deteriorated. Some editors and reporters were jailed, some killed. In the midst of the war, journalism had virtually ended here for all practical purposes.

But the industry has since rebounded vivaciously, while the quality spans the spectrum. Although most of the newspapers here are eight pages, some are somewhat thicker. Some are almost single issue papers. Some have wider offerings, with a mix of local stories, sports and economic news. Some are clearly published on a shoe string’s knot, while some are more lavish.

“It makes me feel good to see the landscape filled with journalism,” said Kenneth best, the editor of the Liberian Observer and a longtime newspaperman who was jailed several times before leaving the country and returning to reopen his newspaper in 2005.

Meanwhile, The Front Page, the new kid on the country’s newspaper block, has sizable ambitions. Rodney B. Sieh, the newspaper’s editor (and Mr. Best’s nephew), wants to eventually staff bureaus with reporters or stringers in each of Liberia’s 15 counties and include more sweeping coverage of financial news.

“I figured that Liberia needed something in the newspaper industry that was of a higher standard,” Mr. Sieh said.

In fact, Mr. Sieh is among the growing community of Liberian-born professionals who are returning to the country in the aftermath of the war. He worked as a reporter and editor for years in the United States, most recently at the Star Ledger in Newark and the Daily Record in Parsippany, NJ.

With the all the cutbacks in the newspaper industry, Mr. Sieh said, he fully expected that it would be a matter of time before he, too, would be furloughed. So he decided to return to Liberia permanently in March of this year. “The market was declining in the States and I was already online with a publication,” he said. “So, I figured with the demand being greater in my own country, why not come home and make a contribution?”

By Jonathan P. Hicks