MONROVIA- Amongst high-profile citizens of Liberia who reached out to The Analyst on its observance of 26th founding anniversary was former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Speaking at her Fish Market residence in Congo Town, Monrovia, the World Health Organization (WHO) Goodwill Ambassador did not mince words in heaping praises on the newspaper for successfully cruising through the odds and remaining faithful not only to the journalism profession, but also the people of Liberia whom it has served for over a quarter of century. The Analyst reports.
While some citizens, including eminent Liberians, turned their faces away as The Analyst celebrated its 26th Anniversary yesterday, August 13, a few persons called up the management to pay their tributes in recognition of the media outlet’s contribution to the public discourse and socioeconomic and political advocacy over the years.
Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was amongst the few. She invited the paper’s Managing Editor and Publisher of 26 years, Stanley Seakor at her residence to voice her solidarity for the “incredible work The Analyst has been doing in the journalism sector of the country.”
She expressed appreciation to the management and staff of The Analyst on the occasion of its 26th anniversary.
Making the congratulatory remarks at her residence where she had invited Mr. Seakor Tuesday, Madam Sirleaf said: “Mr. Seakor, let me congratulate you and the entire staff of The Analyst newspaper for your service to the nation for the past 26 years.”
Shaking the hand of the Publisher of The Analyst upon his arrival at her home, the former president called on The Analyst family to remain committed and faithful to its editorial policy and the creed of journalism as to continue to attract the affection and trust of its readership.
The founding Managing Director acknowledged president Sirleaf compliments, stating that he and his management team were elated by her fond comments “which will be treasured” for a long time to come.
Seakor assured Madam Sirleaf that The Analyst would continue to aspire for a greater space in the Liberian media ecosystem, and would do so without fear and favor.
The Analyst newspaper, a subsidiary news entity of the Liberia Analyst Corporation, was established in June 1997, as a result of the desire of two Liberian media professionals, B. Ignatius George, I, and Stanley Seakor to provide in-depth, analytical reports to the reading public that were visibly frustrated by superficial reportage.
Following months of preparatory works that included registration and obtaining operational permit from the Ministry of Information, Culture Affairs and Tourism, and Ministry of Commerce, The Analyst finally appeared on the newsstand on August 13, 1998.
The Analyst was awarded PUL Best Newspaper of the Year in 2008.
The 26th year old media outlet endured turbulent times in its existence, having made its debut on the newsstand during the regime of President Taylor when the country was still embroiled in a ruinous armed conflict.
It has its own share of the arbitrariness and disregard for human rights and civil liberty that characterized the Taylor administration.
It can be recalled that there was the detention and torture of The Analyst’s Editor-in-Chief, Hassan Bility, and brief detainment of its staff and closure of offices for a time by the Taylor government.
Reflecting on those days, Seakor said in an interview: “For us we were sitting ducks waiting to be swooped upon any minute for unexplained reasons. All the four times we were “invited by the chief” (euphemism for the police director), we were bundled up and heaved into the back of a waiting police vans and whisked off to the police headquarters. We were never told our crimes.
“But the constant security surveillance on our activities was more horrifying: disappearance of news scripts, plainclothes people moving into the office at odd hours of the night and pretending to be seeking information, tailing staffs to their residences, and the seizure of our equipment on allegation that subversive material were being sent to unknown enemy of the government abroad. All that was too much for a young newspaper that barely had funds for printing and salary payment.”
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