Women Should Play Greater Role in Political Coverage and Not Treated Like Second-Class Professionals, Panel of Journalist Leaders Contend

Left to right: Ora Garway, editor of Punch newspaper; Torwon Sulonteh-Brown, Acting President of the Female Journalists of Liberia (FEJAL), and Naomi Seydee, director of news for Liberia Womens Democratic Radio.

Women are dramatically underrepresented in the world of journalism in Liberia and the number who are playing a role in the political coverage of the country’s upcoming presidential election is even more dismal, according to three women who are leaders in the profession in the West African nation.

The three women spoke Thursday at a symposium on political and election reporting at the University of Liberia.

What’s more, the three journalists contended, women in their profession in Liberia remain second-class professionals and the continued victims of sexual harassment, intimidation and bribery attempts. And coverage of women in politics is often presented in derogatory portrayals, they said.

“The underreporting or negative coverage given to political women and their presentation in stereotypical or powerless roles provides clear messages to voters that women just don’t belong in this political world,” said Torwon Sulonteh-Brown, the acting president of the Female Journalists of Liberia (FEJAL). “That has to change.”

She added: “Sexual harassment is also a challenge during the election period.” Furthermore, she said, “Some of the aspiring candidates wanting the journalists to report in their favor try to seduce them. And others try to bribe their way through. And it takes a woman of integrity to refuse a bribe.”

Ms. Sulonteh-Brown was part of a panel that included Ora Garway, the editor of Punch newspaper, and Naomi Seydee, director of news for Liberia Women’s Democratic Radio. They made their remarks at a session in the conference, which is called “Preparing for Election 2011: A Symposium on Political and Election Reporting.” The Ford Foundation, the University of Liberia, the Press Union of Liberia, the Liberia Media Center and the DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy at Medgar Evers College in New York are sponsoring the symposium.

The symposium is being coordinated by Jonathan P. Hicks, a journalist and writer who is a senior fellow at the DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy. Mr. Hicks is a former financial and political reporter with The New York Times and the host of a radio program in New York. The two-week symposium, which is taking place at the University of Liberia, has brought together professional print and broadcast journalists along with mass communication students at the University of Liberia to discuss a number of topics related to coverage of Liberia’s 2011 presidential election.

The three women were part of a session. “Women as Journalists and Subjects in Political Coverage.”

Ms. Garway, who is the only woman editor of a newspaper in Monrovia, the country’s capital, said that the problem affect women in journalism in Liberia is deeply entrenched.

“The longtime bias and stereotype against female journalists in Liberia has created a psyche of complacency and laissez-faire among women, as testified by the fact that there are no female editors in Liberian newsrooms, except for a smarm of female reporters and newscasters,”

The three argued strongly for training and mentoring programs directed at women, particularly in the field of political reporting, which is considered the plum assignment in Liberia’s nearly 20 daily newspapers.

In the months leading up to the 2011 presidential election, the speakers said, that political coverage must be sensitive, fair and balanced, particularly against the backdrop of the 14-year civil war that ended in 2003.

“Politics is conflict,” Ms. Garway said. “And good journalism must keep it unexplosive. This means political reporting must tell the entire story and not leave it abridged. Women, most of whom come to the profession with the natural gender sensitivity, are most suited to tell the full story.”

Liberian Opposition Candidate Calls for Fairness in Election Coverage

More Transparency in Monitoring Count in 2011 Presidential Race

Charles Brumskine

Charles Brumskine, the leader of Liberia’s opposition Liberty Party, gave an impassioned plea Wednesday for the nation’s press to practice fair and balanced reporting in next year’s presidential election while calling on the media to do a better job of providing equal time to coverage of candidates.

Mr. Brumskine also called on the National Elections Commission to provide greater transparency in releasing information on results as they come in at the local level, by polling station, a move he said that would enhance confidence in the system. He also said that the members of the commission should be selected by the president, but with input from Liberia’s various political parties, rather than being selected exclusively by the president.

“Although there is no legal requirement in Liberia for an equal-time rule, there should be a fairness consideration for such a practice in Liberia,” Mr. Brumkine said, explaining that media should ensure that air time and newspaper coverage offer as much balance of the various presidential candidates as possible.

Mr. Brumskine is one of several candidates planning to challenge Liberia’s incumbent president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in next year’s race. Indeed, Mr. Brumskine has been the most visible of the opposition candidates, in large measure because of his talks in recent months to form an alliance with George Weah of the Congress for Democratic Change Party. Both men were candidates for president in 2005.

“Reporting the results of the elections at each polling station is an example of a right that the press needs to demand,” Mr. Brumskine said. “It would clearly be in the best interest of the Liberian People, the National Elections Commission and the administration.”

Mr. Brumskine was the speaker at a journalism conference, which is called “Preparing for Election 2011: A Symposium on Political and Election Reporting.” The Ford Foundation, the University of Liberia, the Press Union of Liberia, the Liberia Media Center and the DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy at Medgar Evers College in New York are sponsoring the symposium. The Wednesday session was at the Monrovia YMCA.

The symposium is being coordinated by Jonathan P. Hicks, a journalist and writer who is a senior fellow at the DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy. Mr. Hicks is a former financial and political reporter with The New York Times and the host of a radio program in New York. The two-week symposium, which is anchored at the University of Liberia, ends Thursday. It has brought together professional print and broadcast journalists along with mass communication students at the University of Liberia to discuss a number of topics related to coverage of Liberia’s 2011 presidential election.

Mr. Brumskine was most ardent in his charge to the media to offer balanced and fair coverage in the months leading up to Liberia’s presidential election next fall. He said that, with the country’s recent history of violent civil conflict, balanced and responsible press coverage of what could be a highly emotional political season would help produce a smooth and safe campaign season in Liberia.

“For Liberia, the prospect of democracy taking root finds itself at a critical crossroads,” Mr. Brumskine said. “The way things go in the next 12 months will be recorded in the history books for either setting Liberia on the course of true democracy or whether it will return the country to the kind of situation that created civil war.”

He said that tone and balance of political coverage in the coming year “will determine the Liberia that we give to our children and our children’s children.” He added, “The burden on your shoulders is not light.”

“If over the next year the Liberian people are given free information about the Sirleaf government, the National Elections Commission, and help to ensure a free fair and transparent election, then real and sustainable democracy will take hold in our country. But such will not be obtained without the members of the press.”

When asked whether the president should select the chairman of the National Elections Commission and its members, Mr. Brumskine said that they should be appointed by the president, but that the selection should be made from a pool of names supplied by each of the major political parties, including the Unity Party of which President Sirleaf is the standard bearer.

Liberia’s Information Minister Calls for Balance, Integrity

As Media Begin Covering the 2011 Presidential Race

Norris Tweah, Liberia's Minister of Information

Liberia’s acting minister of information made an impassioned appeal on Monday for journalists to practice the highest ethical standards in the political coverage leading up to next year’s president election, saying that responsible press coverage will help establish the country’s media as an inspiration for the rest of West Africa.

Speaking at a symposium on political and election reporting at the University of Liberia, Norris Tweah, the acting minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, said, “The world’s attention will be on Liberia as we go toward next year’s election.” He added, “Successful coverage will elevate the media sector of Liberia to another, important pedestal.”

Mr. Tweah made his remarks on the opening of “Preparing for Election 2011,” a symposium on political and election reporting. The Ford Foundation, the University of Liberia, the Press Union of Liberia, the Liberia Media Center and the DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy at Medgar Evers College in New York are sponsoring the symposium.

The symposium is being coordinated by Jonathan P. Hicks, a journalist and writer who is a senior fellow at the DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy at Medgar Evers College. Mr. Hicks is a former financial and political reporter with The New York Times and the host of a radio program, Urban Focus, at Medgar Evers. The two-week symposium, which is taking place at the University of Liberia, brings together professional print and broadcast journalists along with mass communication students at the University of Liberia to discuss a number of topics related to coverage of Liberia’s 2011 presidential election.

Emmet Dennis, President of the University of Liberia

Emmet Dennis, the president of the University of Liberia, also spoke at the opening of the symposium. Dr. Dennis pointed out that Liberia is emerging from the horrors of 14 years of civil war and that the country’s continued reemergence would be well served by peaceful presidential elections that included balanced and responsible media coverage.

“The critical challenge for the media is that they stay faithful to their duty to the public, to give the right, balanced information that will help the public make informed decisions,” Dr. Dennis said. “In the long term the survival of the country will depend on the integrity of the media. After all, the pen is mightier than the sword.”

In an interview after the symposium, Mr. Tweah said that the important message for the media is that “they have a duty to provide right, balanced and accurate information for public consumption and decision making.” He added that the risk of not doing so “would be that it would increase the Liberia’s likelihood of failing to consolidate our democracy.”

Liberia’s president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is running for reelection in the 2011 campaign. And even nearly a year before the election, the campaign is already the central topic of discussion on the streets of Monrovia and throughout the country. The election has already produced a number of opposition candidates. In addition, most people in Liberia, as well as much of West Africa, are looking closely to see not only how the democratic process unfolds here, but how the media cover how the first incumbent president in post-war Liberia fares in her reelection effort.

Initially, President Sirleaf was to have addressed the symposium. But her office said she has been deeply immersed in the restructuring of her cabinet and that the information minister would stand in for her. Three weeks ago, the president asked all but one of her cabinet ministers to step down immediately while she determined which ones to keep in office.

The president told her ministers she wanted to restructure the cabinet and start with a clean slate, her office said. “This administration is entering into a critical stretch,” the president’s office said, in a statement. “And this would afford her the opportunity to start with a fresh slate going forward.”

Last week, the president started announcing not only ministers that she would be keeping in office, but also new appointees to various offices. One of those new appointees is Jonathan Reffell, a longtime Liberian broadcast journalist, whom she named as Ambassador at Large.

Mr. Reffell will be one of the speakers at the “Preparing for Election 2011” symposium on Tuesday. He will be speaking on the topic of fairness and balance in election coverage. Mr. Reffell is a former information minister and he is a consultant to Star Radio in Liberia.