Liberian press crying wolf 

(Letter to the Editor first directed to FrontPageAfrica web site)

 Friday, October 06, 2006   

By Dr. Bartum Nyakwettee Kulah M.D

I read today that the Chairman of the Unity Party warned journalists against unprofessional reporting.
Dr Charles Clarke, head of the Unity Party must show some maturity, restraint and professionalism, as exemplified by the Standard Bearer of his party.
Madam Sirleaf correctly stated that Liberian journalists are compromising the integrity of the profession without making any threats.
Any open-minded or level-headed person knows that some elements of the Liberian media are unprofessional and report gossips and assumptions as facts.
Further, Front Page Africa, which I assume has reporters and contributing columnists that are American-trained journalists reported a story about Judge Johnny Lewis, that read like a gossip column from a sleazy tabloid.

Also some journalists write pure nonsense. It seems most articles are published without any proofreading or editorial review/editing. I believe this to be the case because most articles on the web and some in print are full of grammatical and typographical errors.

Someone please tell me, What is Musue Haddad's LETTER ABOUT? Is it a gossip column that changes people's name and reads like a letter to her mom? Or is it pure nonsense taking space that could be used to shape opinions and the debate in Liberia?

FOR ME IT IS USELESS/ANNOYING! IT READS LIKE A GOSSIP COLUMN, TALKING ABOUT WHO IS DATING WHO ETC, ETC....
It's sad that some of our contributing journalists on these sites have difficulty with using indentions and paragraphs, and have a poor command of the English language.
In fact some of our journalists use archaic and redundant vocabulary that causes the articles to read like crap interspersed with a bunch of gibberish
masquerading as vocabulary.

Yet, The Perspective web site produced in my hometown of Atlanta reads more like an opinion piece or essays venting one's frustration, and at times like down-right rubbish. As a result I usually skim the headlines and first paragraph before bothering to even waist my time.

Mr. Clarke, oh excuse me, is it Dr Clarke save your breath and choose another fight. The days of party chairmen like Kekura Kpoto and Cyril Allen making threats that later turned out to lead to extra-judicial arrests, torture and killings are over.

What will you do to them if they continue?! NOT A DAMN THING!
Because MA ELLEN IS SMARTER AND MATURE THAN THAT! NO AMOUNT OF GOSSIP, INSTIGATION OR SYCOPHANCY WILL CAUSE HER TO HURT ANYONE!
THAT'S WHY SHE SLEEPS WELL AT NIGHT!

PICK YOUR BATTLES WELL MR. CHAIRMAN!

Dr. Kulah, son of the former Methodist Bishop of Liberia, is a physician. He lives in metro Atlanta.