We Don’t Want to Turn to Ugly Pages of History Any More - Mulbah
By: Lewis K. Glay
Forum
Monrovia, Liberia
Distributed by
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
Mr. Mulbah said the Liberian media should be in the vanguard of disseminating information to the public based on balanced reporting and truth telling without ethical transgression.
The Chairman of the Mass Communication Department at the UL made these statements at his office on campus last Friday, when he commented on the role of the media during the run-off election.
Mr. Mulbah noted that of late, some media houses to a large extent, have engaged in sensational reporting thereby causing uneasiness in some quarters if not the general public.
He said the media reportage at such a critical period of the nation’s history should not be characterized by lambasting and character assassination but rather it should be guided by the social responsibility theory of the journalism profession.
Mr. Mulbah observed that the Press Union (PUL), being a clearing house for the media is more or less a toothless bull dog, noting that the union needs to review its role so as to go beyond mere suspension penalty for media institutions that fall prey to its (PUL) code of conduct.
According to him, stringent measures need to be taken by the union to serve as deterrence for would-be violators of media law in the country.
He also called on media executives to educate their staff on how to go about gathering news for public consumption in the manner of professionalism that the press freedom they are enjoying currently cannot be abused at the disadvantage of the masses.
