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MONROVIA – The Publisher of Liberia’s first independent newspaper, Mr. Kenneth Y. Best, has recounted the “costly pains and challenges” him and several of his staffs suffered and encountered for establishing a news organ and reporting critical and balance stories in keeping with their reportorial duties in the country.
The Daily Observer newspaper was established in January 1981 during the brutal and cruel regime of military dictator Samuel K. Doe.
Mr. Best recalled that the beginning of the paper second month in existence, the “erratic, powerful and tyrannical Justice Minister, Chea Cheapoo” during the Doe, summoned him at his office on a Monday morning, and with loaded guns pointed at him from every direction and blasted for nearly two hours, because his paper had published a story about that was displeasing to him.
Managing Editor of the Inquirer Newspaper, Atty. Philip Wesseh
In the midst of economic difficulties in the country, the Managing Editor of the Inquirer Newspaper, Atty. Phillip N. Wesseh, says he still remains grateful to God for the newspaper being the only surviving post-war independent in Liberia.
âIndeed, the three decades of existence thus far were not rosy, as there were many challenges, including dangerous assignments for which we took the risk. The fact that this paper started when the guns were raging, created a challenge to the paper to exercise a great deal of professionalism and high ethical standards,â said Atty. Wesseh.