By Moses D. Sandy
Guest Writer  

Thirteen years ago, the United Nations General Assembly declared May 3^rd of every year to be commemorated by UN member countries as World Press Freedom Day. Since 1993, the day has been used to strike a chord about the crucial role a liberated media plays in enhancing democracies and global development. 

The day also, serves as an occasion to bring to the fore violations of the right to free speech and the challenges (sometimes death or imprisonment) journalists endure in the gathering and reporting of daily news. World Press Freedom Day is an event that is adored and cherished by journalists and supporters of free speech and press freedom universally.  

This year’s commemoration was held on the theme, “The Media as a Force for Challenge.” In Liberia, West Africa, the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), a member of the universal press corps celebrated the occasion with a series of activities befitting the day. As part of the celebration, the Union’s Annual Awards Committee bestowed honors on several “deserving” Liberian journalists and media institutions. 

University of Liberia’s Mass Communications Department Chairman, Joe W. Mulbah was one of the honorees. Mr. Mulbah, a former minister of Information in the imprisoned

Ex-President Charles Taylor’s administration, walked away with one of the Union’s most prestigious accolades, Hall of Fame. Joe as he popularly referred to, is also a former minister of information or chief war propagandist of the then dreaded rebel movement, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL). 

Joe was given the PUL’s Hall of Fame award because the union claims he has risen to the peak of journalism in Liberia. But the honor has received widespread condemnations from advocates of press freedom and free speech. Furthermore, it has driven a wedge amongst the Liberian press corps both at home and abroad because people believe Mr. Mulbah is unfit for such high profile mark of journalistic distinction. In the midst of this public resentment, let’s in summary look at Mr. Mulbah’s deeds in the media in pre-war Liberia, and during the civil war, and the Charles Taylor administration.

Joe in Pre-war Liberia 

Before the advent of the Liberian fratricidal war, Joe like many Liberian broadcast journalists had an impeccable record. When he worked at ELWA as a producer and presenter of the then famous radio news program, “Window on the World” he was admired and adored by Liberians including the author of this article for objective journalism. He was one of Liberia’s finest broadcast journalists.  

In the late 1980’s students including the author of this article who sat under his tutelage at the University of Liberia’s Mass Communications Department saw him as a role model for professional growth and development.

Joe and the Liberian Civil War  

Joe Mulbah eroded his hard earned credibility in the media in the 1990’s when he out of personal ego literally threw away journalistic ethics and principles to join the former NPFL media empire as a war propagandist. As a rebel spokesman, he at home and abroad championed the cause of the NPFL and its gang of murders. During the war, he and some of his cronies’ manned Mr. Taylor’s looted broadcast outlets in the then self styled Greater Liberia. They broadcast to the rest of the country and beyond. Misinformation and fabrications were the order of the day. They justified the mass murder of Liberians and foreign nationals, and the wanton pillaging of Liberia’s natural resources by NPFL forces. 

They routinely berated and demonized African and world leaders, prominent Liberians, and others who resisted the NPFL onslaught on Monrovia, Liberia‘s capital. For example, former Nigerian President Ibrahim Banbangida was referred to as “Black Hitler” (Perspective, 2001). Soldiers of the West African Peace Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) that moved to Liberia to contain the NPFL madness were labeled as cannibals, rapists, and mad killers. Monrovia was known in the then so-called greater Liberia as a living hell.

Joe and the Liberian Media During the Taylor’s Administration 

Although Mr. Mulbah is a professor of journalism and a member of the PUL, his ascendancy to the position of Minister of Information Culture Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) during the presidency of the former dictator, Charles Taylor was of no help to the defense and protection of journalists and press freedom in Liberia. Joe with the backing of his former boss, Charles Taylor clamped down on press freedom and free speech. The media landscape in Taylor’s Liberia was horrendous. 

The media on a regular basis was replete with reports on the intimidation, and arbitrary arrests and detention of journalists and advocates of free speech. Government orchestrated closure of media institutions and the denial of operational permits to newspapers on flimsy accounts were commonplace. There is a catalogue of the Taylor’s regime malfeasances aimed at the media for which neither time nor space can allow me to recount, but these are some of the foremost examples:  

MICAT under the watchful eyes of Mr. Mulbah on November 27, 1997 refused to register the New Democrat Newspaper because the ministry claimed, “The paper failed to meet the January registration deadline.” Personally, the former minister accused the New Democrat of being “antagonistic” in the past to former president Taylor. 

October 14, 1998 MICAT banned the posting of information on the Internet by local media institution. A directive from the Ministry at the time alleged that radio and television stations were operating news agencies online without a permit and “ running unauthenticated newspaper articles and gossip columns”(IPI, 1999). 

On March 15, 2000 former minister Mulbah ordered the indefinite closure of Star Radio for what the Liberian government at the time referred to as preaching, “Hate messages.” In a letter addressed to the management of Star Radio, the former MICAT boss recounted that Star Radio was granted a temporary license to enable the station to cover the 1997 elections. He added that because the electoral “playing field had been leveled,” there was no reason for Star Radio to continue the broadcast of political talk shows, news, and interviews.” But the former minister letter was in contravention of Star Radio’s article of incorporation that allowed the station “ to disseminate useful, impartial and objective information to Liberians without time restrictions”.  

My Disposition 

Predicated on Mr. Mulbah’s misdeeds in the Liberian media especially during the heydays of the NPFL so-called revolution and the Charles Taylor presidency, I concur with advocates who believe that the university professor does not deserve the acclaimed honor bequeathed on him by the PUL.  

Mr. Mulbah’s Hall of Fame award is a misrepresentation of the fact and the core values of good journalism. It is an affront to the many strives Liberian journalists are making to keep the touch of free speech and press freedom burning. Furthermore, the honor defeats the purpose of World Press Freedom Day.  

Even though the award, Hall of Fame has a contextual meaning, its fundamental purpose is to acknowledge and honor individuals who have risen to the peak of their profession. To simply put, it is given to professionals who are held in high esteem by their peers for exceptional performances. In the case of Joe Mulbah, given his misdeeds in the press, the situation is the irony.  

It is paradoxical for the PUL which professes to be an advocate of social justice, free speech, and press freedom to shower praises of excellence on Mr. Mulbah who has an overt record of falsehood and media censorship. The PUL has erred, and sub conscientiously embarrassed the Liberian press corps.  

To save face, the union’s leadership must with immediate effect revoke the honor, and apologize to their membership and the public for the betrayal of public trust and confidence. Unless the PUL learn to be honest with itself and begin to call a spade, a spade, the struggle for free speech and press freedom in Liberia would remained a mere rhetoric.