Contributing Writer
Africa-Press – Liberia. The relationship between the media and security agencies, including those in law enforcement and intelligence services, has always been delicate, often characterized by frequent clashes arising from a somewhat startling inability of either side to fully appreciate the role of the other in society, particularly during elections.Against this backdrop, the authorities of the Liberian National Police (LNP) and the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) held a day-long dialogue today to ensure a smooth working relationship between members of both institutions.
Speaking at the dialogue meeting, Deputy Inspector for Operation Marvin Sackor addressed the complaints of police brutality against both state security actors and media personnel, which the dialogue aimed to address.
“We are aware of some of the issues that have to do with police brutality against journalists, and we are also aware of issues of media attacking officers,” Sackor noted. “Moving forward, we want to make sure that does not happen, and the only way to do that is to have a dialogue series where joint security comes out to express their concerns, and the media also expresses their concerns about police actions and the joint security’s actions toward them during our operations.”
He reminded his audience about the importance of the pending political campaigns and the subsequent voting process. “As we are all aware, campaign activities start on August 5, 2023, so it is important that we bring stakeholders together for a very fruitful discussion,” added Sackor. “We look forward to a good working relationship with state actors and the media in these electoral processes, acknowledging that the media needs state security and vice versa.”
He continued, “We can’t do without each other, so it is important that as we work in the best interest of protecting peace in the country, we have this dialogue to discuss what can be done to prevent misinformation and disinformation, with the issue of state security becoming complicit with the media and vice versa.”
According to Sackor, these are the issues that led to the dialogue. “We are very passionate about this dialogue in making sure that we can have these elections in a peaceful manner,” he said.
Sackor also called on media institutions to ensure their staff are adequately identified during the electoral process to avoid confrontation with state security officers.
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