Liberia

2013

  

News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, November 2013

Photo credit, Barbara Nitke (CPJ) Journalists honored at CPJ’s annual award ceremony Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef was among four journalists who received CPJ’s 2013 International Press Freedom Award on November 26. Youssef has used humor to report on and criticize government failures to improve the economy and public services, and its efforts to suppress opinion.…

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Liberian publisher Sieh freed, news outlet reopened

A court in the capital Monrovia on November 18, 2013, officially ordered the release from prison of FrontPageAfrica publisher Rodney Sieh and the reopening of the offices of the private daily newspaper, according to news reports. The newspaper will resume its daily publication on November 25, 2013, Sieh told CPJ.

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CPJ welcomes release of Liberian journalist Rodney Sieh

New York, October 8, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Monday’s decision by Liberia’s Ministry of Justice to grant Rodney Sieh–the publisher of FrontPageAfrica who has been jailed since August for not paying libel damages–“compassionate release” for 30 days. The conditions behind Sieh’s release were not clear, but the journalist’s health had deteriorated in prison.…

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Sirleaf urged to reform libel laws, free Rodney Sieh

Dear President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: We call on you to decriminalize defamation; adopt monetary damages for libel commensurate with the harm done and within limits Liberians can afford; and halt the incarceration of defendants unable to pay, which is highly unusual in civil cases. We urge you to facilitate the release of jailed journalist Rodney Sieh and the reopening of his newspaper, FrontPageAfrica.

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CPJ holds Liberia responsible for Rodney Sieh’s well-being

New York, August 28, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by today’s hospitalization of leading Liberian independent journalist Rodney Sieh, who has been on hunger strike since his imprisonment on August 21.

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A screen shot of FrontPageAfrica's home page.

Liberian news outlet shut down, publisher jailed

Abuja, Nigeria, August 23, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemns moves by Liberian authorities to shut down FrontPageAfrica and jail its publisher for not paying US$1.5 million in damages related to a libel conviction.

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(Pan African Parliament)

Press freedom: Challenge of changing words into deeds

The Pan African Parliament’s (PAP) launch of a media freedom campaign through a “Dialogue on Media Freedom in Africa” in mid-May marks an important and welcome starting point. For too long, media freedom has been divorced from the debate around development and democratization when it has an integral role to play in promoting transparency, underpinning…

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Liberian newspapers protest threatening remarks by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's security chief. (Wade Williams/FrontPage Africa)

Liberian press boycotts Sirleaf over aide’s comments

Most governments, even repressive ones, at least give lip service to supporting freedom of the press–especially on World Press Freedom Day, May 3. But in Liberia this month, Othello Daniel Warrick, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s chief security aide, shocked local journalists by threatening them and calling them “terrorists” at a public event to mark the…

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Attacks on the Press: The Power of the Ordinary

Who is allowed to talk? What are they allowed to say? Award winners seek the answers. By Kristin Jones

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2013