MONROVIA- news story purportedly written by one Nathaniel McClain and disseminated online by Smartnewsliberia on Sunday, November 5, 2023, has claimed the attention of all and sundry. Interestingly, the news report was attributed to renowned human rights advocate and Presidential Candidate Tiawan Saye Gongloe.
As disseminated online under the title “Liberia: Cllr. Gongloe Vows to Take Legal Action against Benenoi Urey for Stealing Maritime Money”, the story mentions that Cllr. Gongloe has vehemently said he would prosecute Mr. Urey and all other persons that have stolen and diverted to funding the civil war, money that came in to the Liberia Maritime Authority during the regime of Mr. Charles Taylor. According to the story, Cllr. Gongloe said: “Even when they go to heaven and associate with Jesus, they will be brought back to earth to face prosecution.”
In its entirety, the journalistic prowess Mr. McClain intended to exhibit of himself was missed. Instead, display of his knowledge of the art only indicates that he is a weak and yellow journalist who seem to coat his reportages with lies and half-truths as he has portrayed in this street-side second-hand report of his. In fact, because he is clueless of the principle of the guild which is only about truth-telling, he wrote and Smartnewsliberia spread the falsehood that Cllr. Gongloe made the statement when he appeared and spoke to a crowd on Carey Street in Monrovia recently.
By the way, in journalism, the use of “recently” to connote the time a news event occurred, is disallowed or impermissible because it undermines that crucial validating element of news. If Nathaniel’s account he attributed to the outstanding public servant was accurate, he would have indicated the exact date he said Tiawan uttered the statement on the Carey Street where for more than a month he has not gone or spoken.
For public information, Cllr. Gongloe categorically refutes Smartnewsliberia’s dissemination of him. He said not even in his staunch stance on rights issues he has ever spoken in the manner that has been ascribed to him. Therefore, he asks the public to ignore, disregard and despise the poor publicity. Already, Cllr. Gongloe has phoned Mr. Urey and disclaimed the report which he terms a groundless propaganda intended to soil the good relationship political leaders of the Country have.
