Worst of all, the umbrella organisation of the local media or Press Union of Liberia (PUL) is yet to officially communicate its findings to the government, through the Information Ministry besides the issuance of "press release."
Information Minister Lewis G. Brown told a news conference on Thursday, 4 July 2013, that what government is being exposed to is a press release, which acknowledges ethical transgression on the part of the National Chronicle, saying "the National Chronicle lied."
"We cannot scandalise other people's character in the name of press freedom. It is unacceptable. You willfully lied that you had the report in your possession that a hundred million was about to be corruptly pocketed. You lied; black, black lies," Minister Brown emphasized.
He narrated that the Liberian Government complained the local media house for slander and not to the courts, nor to the police to chain their doors, but to the Press Union, but said the government was still awaiting the Union's official letter on the outcome of the complaint.
"We wrote the Press union; we expect that the Press Union will accord us similar courtesy and write an official response to us about the outcome. What we have been exposed to is a press release, which acknowledges ethical transgression on the part of the National Chronicle. We do not believe that, that is the proper way to respond to a serious claim or to anything thing," he said.
The rather angry information minister argued that the duty of a free press does not extend to deliberate slander and lies, where media practitioners would proceed under a guise of "but we give you an opportunity to respond too."
Minister Brown indicated that when writers pen down issues, it is assumed that what they wrote would go down in history and could subsequently be used for reference material for research. As such, Minister Brown warned that journalists should be responsible pressmen and women, and not ones presenting themselves as "press boys and girls."
"You owe yourself a duty of truth. When you publish a lie unknowingly, you can be excused; but when you publish a lie deliberately or when you cover-up that lie in so-called journalistic "nuasis" such as "sources closed to... " when it is your opinion... That is not excused. He noted that the time has passed for people to call journalists "press boys," but said it must begin with the journalists themselves as responsible people.
Source: allAfrica
