MONROVIA – The Press Union of Liberia has challenged President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to define the media legacy his administration intends to leave behind, warning that several concerns raised with government more than a year ago remain largely unresolved.
PUL President Julius K. Kanubah delivered the challenge on Saturday, September 12, 2026, during the Second Annual Presidential Media Dinner held at the Ballroom of the EJS Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, Monrovia.
Kanubah said Liberia had made notable progress in media development through important legal and institutional reforms, including the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act, the abolition of anti-free speech offenses through the Kamara Abdullai Kamara Act of Press Freedom, the expansion of community radio and the maintenance of a pluralistic media environment.
However, he said those gains must not be treated as the end of Liberia’s media development journey.
According to the PUL president, the Union used the first Presidential Media Dinner in April 2025 to raise concerns about the need to transform the Liberia Broadcasting Corporation into an impartial public service broadcaster, address the declining media economy and improve the difficult operating conditions confronting community radio stations and other media institutions.
More than a year later, Kanubah said, the Union is still waiting for substantial movement on several of those concerns.
He pointed specifically to the lack of comprehensive reform at the Liberia Broadcasting Corporation, insufficient structured support for community radio, difficult working conditions for journalists and the absence of a national framework capable of sustaining the country’s media industry.
Community radio stations, he noted, continue to face unreliable electricity, inadequate equipment, limited advertising opportunities, rising operational costs and insufficient professional training.
Kanubah therefore called for the formulation and enactment of a Liberia Media Governance and Sustainability Act, describing it as a mechanism that could establish a transparent national framework for supporting independent, ethical and professional journalism.
The proposal places the media question beyond individual government interventions and calls for a more permanent policy framework that can survive changes in administration.
“Credible journalism remains the lifeblood and oxygen of democracy,” Kanubah told President Boakai, while assuring the administration that the PUL stands ready to collaborate in advancing media development.
But the most direct challenge came when Kanubah asked what history would ultimately remember about the current administration’s relationship with the press.
“What will be the media legacy of the Joseph Nyuma Boakai administration?” he asked.
The question comes against the backdrop of media reforms and commitments made under previous administrations.
Kanubah acknowledged that former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government enacted the Freedom of Information Act, endorsed the Declaration of Table Mountain and contributed US$100,000 toward the proposed PUL headquarters.
He also credited former President George Weah’s administration with enacting the Kamara Abdullai Kamara Act and providing a headquarters for the Female Journalists Association of Liberia, an auxiliary member of the PUL.
The comparison places President Boakai’s administration at a critical point in Liberia’s evolving media history.
For the PUL, the issue is no longer simply whether government recognizes the importance of journalism. The Union wants measurable reforms that strengthen the institutions through which journalists work.
