In separate Twitter tweets Tuesday, both organizations expressed concerns with plight of newspaper publishers. “CPJ joins the Press the Publishers Association of Liberia(PAL) to express concern about the government withholding payment of debts to media houses, exacerbating already difficult economic circumstances for journalists,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists. Reporters Without Borders added: As the state owes around US$247 of advertising in the press, about 12 newspapers are at risk of going bankrupt. RSW is very much concerned by the media outlets survival already in economic disarray amid the COVID19 crisis. At their meeting over the weekend, the media practitioners warned that government’s continuous failure to pay its debt to media institutions would eventually lead them to taking several actions, including media blackout and possible withdrawer from the newsstands.

Source: Front Page Africa April 08, 2020 08:03 UTC