Previously On Urban Focus
Peter Quaqua
As the West African nation of Liberia approaches its widely anticipated presidential election next year, Urban Focus looks at the media in the country and its role in covering the election. Liberia’s incumbent president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is running for reelection in a field that is turning out to be crowded.
Liberia is emerging from the horrors of 14 years of civil war and the country’s continued reemergence would be well served by peaceful presidential elections that include balanced and responsible media coverage.
The show includes an interview with Peter Quaqua, the president of the Press Union of Liberia, an organization that advocates for media concerns. His organization been at the forefront of not just important journalism training in Liberia, but also of journalism and government reform in the country.
Ora Garway
The program also includes an interview with Ora Garway, the editor of the Punch newspaper in Monrovia’s capitol. Ms. Garway is the only woman editor of a newspaper in Liberia.
Jonathan Reffell
Also, there is a discussion with Jonathan Reffell, a pioneer in the field of broadcast journalism in Liberia. Mr. Reffell, who was one of the early anchormen in the country, went on to become ministry of information for the country. He was recently appointed Ambassador at Large by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
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Urban Focus is broadcast nation-wide via the Internet every Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at http://streaming.intacs.com/clients/medgarevers. In Brooklyn, the program will be aired on BCAT TV on Channel 70 (Cablevision), Channel 56 (Time Warner), Channel 44 (Verizon ) and Channel 84 (RCN). Urban Focus will be broadcast every Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. and programs will be archived here on the DuBois Bunche Center’s website.
Through interviews with politicians, policy makers, industry practitioners, scholars and expert analysts, Urban Focus will explore a range of issues that affect underserved communities and communities of color from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to Cape Town, South Africa. The discussions will serve to both draw attention to problems and highlight solutions for issues of concern to these communities.
