Africa-Press – Liberia. Lisa Diasay, founder of Women’s Online Television and presidential aspirant for the upcoming Female Journalists Association of Liberia (FeJAL) election, has made a promise to local female journalists of innovation and change in FeJAL during her administration if elected.
She also assured Liberian female journalists that her administration will be built on capacity development and the decentralization of FeJAL.
Her statement came when she addressed several local female journalists at the closing of her party campaign recently in Monrovia.
“We started as cub reporters,” she said, “and we have transcended to the level of a media manager. This did not come by mistake; it came by perseverance and the fact that we were innovative. We did not sit and say ‘we are not able to do it’; we sat on the pillars of “I can do it.”.
She urged the local female journalists to rise to a level where, tomorrow, they can sit in different spaces of decision-making because that is the future they look forward to having.
We have our members today bringing in papers to say; if you want to be part of FeJAL, here is paper, no,” she stated. “We are in a contemporary society.
According to her, when people are in a dispensation that calls for technological disruption, they don’t stay in one paper environment; they must transcend from paper to technology, and that is what her leadership wants to bring to FeJAL.
She also said that her leadership wants to move FeJAL from its current level to a higher level, which cannot become a reality with people who do not embrace innovation. And she encouraged them to vote for her leadership because she has people with innovation.
“We have been doing it before; we can do it again,” she added. “This particular team wants to digitize FeJAL. We are tired of holding paper. With Liberia more than 177 years old, we can’t be holding papers in this town. We need to be able to leverage the new media to do the work we want to do.
She further said her leadership wants to digitize FeJAL with their mini-resource centers that will be spread across the country to support the growth of women journalists. And they also want to do specialized training because they want to nurture experts in FeJAL.
In addition, she narrated that during her trip to Uganda, she had the opportunity to work with young female journalists with specialties who helped her do the work that she wanted to do.
If a country like Uganda can be like that, Liberia, too, can be like that,” she said. “We need experts in this country. We need people with a specialty around here to do the work that is needed because when we have a specialty, you will know that the media will be transcending to another level, and that’s what we want to do at FeJAL.
The female presidential aspirant mentioned that her leadership will give FeJAL the needed visibility.
However, Diasay also urged local female journalists to rise to their potential to be great journalists because they have the power within them to do it.
“Do not let anyone stop you,” she said. “You are more than you were. You are more than who you are, and we want you to transcend that level.
Oretha Bundoo Seh, Diasay’s running mate and a reporter of ECOWAS Radio, said they want all female journalists in Liberia to feel the impact of FeJAL when elected to leadership.
“FeJAL should not be a place for handpicking people where, when opportunities come, it is only for certain groups of people,” she said. “We say no to that. When money comes to FeJAL, the membership is responsible for knowing. So these are things that we are fighting for: accountability.”
She also assured the local female journalists that, if elected, they will set up a database for FeJAL, which she claims does not currently exist.
For his part, Stephen Sonpon, reporter at Prime FM and supporter of the Lisa Diasay’s FeJAL presidential campaign, told the local female journalists that they have gathered from the fifteen counties within Liberia.
“Our presence at the closing of Diasay’s campaign was not to promote somebody on a friendship basis, but to champion the cause of female journalists in Liberia.
“It is not about workshops but empowerment and capacity building,” he said. “For the fact that you educate one woman, it means that you have educated everyone.”
For More News And Analysis About Liberia Follow Africa-Press
