Mass media in Liberia include the press, radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet. Much of Liberia's communications infrastructure was destroyed or plundered during the two civil wars (1989-1996 and 1999-2003). With low rates of adult literacy and high poverty rates, television and newspaper use is limited, leaving radio as the predominant means of communicating with the public. Even as it struggles with economic and political constraints, Liberia's media environment is expanding. The number of registered newspapers and radio stations (many of them community stations) is on the rise despite limited market potential. And politically critical content and investigative pieces do get published or broadcast.

Press

The main newspapers are: * '' The Analyst''"Liberia: LMC Extols Media Institutions"
''The NEWS'', 16 September 2008, AllAfrica. *Pumah Times Newspaper * '' Daily Observer'' (est. 1981), private. * ''

The Daily Talk ''The Daily Talk'' is an English-language news medium published daily on a blackboard on Tubman Boulevard in the center of the Liberian capital Monrovia. According to the ''New York Times'', it is "the most widely read report" in Monrovia, as m ...

'' * '' FrontPage Africa'', private. * '' The Inquirer'', private daily."Liberia profile"
''BBC News'', 14 March 2012. * ''National Chronicle''"Media regulator recommends support for local media coverage of truth commission", BBC Monitoring Africa, 27 June 2008. * ''The New Dawn'', private daily. * ''New Democrat'' * ''

New Republic Liberia New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

''Alphonso been in the profession for over twenty years. He has worked for many international media outlets including: West Africa Magazine, Africa Week Magazine, African Observer and did occasional reporting for CNN, BBC World Service, Sunday Times, NPR, Radio Deutchewells, Radio Netherlands. He is the current correspondent for Reuters. Mr. Toweh holds first MA with honors in International Relations and a candidate for second master in International Peace studies and Conflict Resolution. Defunct newspapers and magazines include: * ''Africa League'' * ''African Nationalist'' * ''Africa's Luminary'' (est. 1839) * ''Amulet'' (est. 1839) * ''Daily Listener'' (est. 1950) * ''Footprints Today'' (est. 1984) * ''The Friend'' * ''Independent Weekly'' * ''Journal of Commerce and Industry'' * ''Liberia and West Africa'' (ceased in 1932) * ''

Liberia Herald The ''Liberia Herald'', founded in 1826 is the first newspaper ever published in Liberia which at the time was a colony. It was founded by Charles Force who died shortly after the first issue was published. In March 1827 Samuel Cornish and John B ...

'' (est. 1826) * ''Liberian Age'' (est. 1946) * ''Liberian Herald'' * ''Liberian News'' * ''Liberian Recorder'' (est. 1897) * ''Liberian Star'' (est. 1839) * ''Monrovia Observer'' (est. 1878) * ''Palm Magazine'' * ''SunTimes'' * ''Weekly Mirror'' * ''Whirlwind''

Radio

* Radios: 790,000 radio receivers (1997). * Radio stations: 1 state-owned radio station, but no national public service broadcaster; about 15 independent radio stations broadcasting in Monrovia, with another 25 local stations operating in other areas; transmissions of 2 international broadcasters are available (2007)."Communications: Liberia"
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 28 January 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014. ** BBC World Service 103 FM. ** ELBC FM, public."Liberia: Radio Station Websites"
Radio Station World. Retrieved 8 February 2014. ** ELWA FM and SW, private, religious-Christian. **Pumah FM 106.3 ** LUX 106.6 FM, University of Liberia. ** Radio Liberia FM, operated by the state-run

Liberian Broadcasting System The Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) is a state-owned radio and television network in Liberia. Founded as a corporation in 1960, the network was owned and operated by Rediffusion London until 1968, when management passed to the Government of Liber ...

(LBS). ** Radio Veritas FM and SW, religious-Catholic. ** RFI English FM, the English service of Radio France Internationale. **

Sky FM Sky FM is an independent radio station based in Monrovia, Liberia, broadcasting on FM 107. Its director is T.max Jlateh, who also hosts a morning talk and news program, ''50-50''. In 2012, after ''FrontPage Africa'' reporter Mae Azango was threate ...

** STAR Radio FM and SW, operated in partnership with Swiss-based Hirondelle Foundation. ** Truth FM ** UNMIL Radio FM, operated by the United Nations mission. ** Voice of Firestone Liberia 89.5 FM

Television

* Television sets: 70,000 sets (1997). *Pumah TV Channel 4 * Television stations: 4 private TV stations, none with national reach; satellite TV service available (2007). ** Clar TV, private. ** DC TV, private. ** Power TV, private. ** Real TV, private. *

Liberia Broadcasting System The Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) is a state-owned radio and television network in Liberia. Founded as a corporation in 1960, the network was owned and operated by Rediffusion London until 1968, when management passed to the Government of Libe ...

: Government owned Liberia National Television (LNTV).

Telephones

Calling code Country calling codes or country dial-in codes are telephone number prefixes for reaching telephone subscribers in the networks of the member countries or regions of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The codes are defined by the ...

: +231 * International call prefix: 00 * Main lines: 3,200 lines in use, 213th in the world (2011). * Mobile cellular: 2.4 million lines, 138th in the world (2012). * Telephone system: the limited services available are found almost exclusively in the capital Monrovia; fixed-line service stagnant and extremely limited; telephone coverage extended to a number of other towns and rural areas by four mobile-cellular network operators; mobile-cellular subscription base growing and teledensity reached 50 per 100 persons (2011). * Satellite earth stations: 1

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT, Intelsat) is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as In ...

( Atlantic Ocean) (2010). * Communications cables: Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) cable system, links countries along the west coast of Africa to each other and on to Portugal and France. The fixed line infrastructure of Liberia was nearly completely destroyed during the civil wars (1989-1996 and 1999-2003). Prior to the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 2007, the state-owned

Liberia Telecommunications Corporation The Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (LTC) is a telecommunications company providing services in Liberia. Headquartered in Monrovia, the company provides telephone, Internet, fax and radio services to the Greater Monrovia area. Prior to the ...

(LIBTELCO) held a

legal monopoly A legal monopoly, statutory monopoly, or ''de jure'' monopoly is a monopoly that is protected by law from competition. A statutory monopoly may take the form of a government monopoly In economics, a government monopoly or public monopoly is a form ...

for all fixed line services in Liberia, and remains the sole licensed fixed line telephone service provider in the country. Two licensed GSM cellular mobile service providers operate in the country:

Lonestar Cell Lonestar Cell is a telecommunications company based in Monrovia, Liberia. The company owns and operates the largest wireless telecommunications network in Liberia, with 48% of the market share in 2011. Founded in 2000 by Beirut-based Investcom, t ...

and CellCom. Approximately 45% of the population has cell phone service.

Internet

Top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in ...

.lr .lr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, ...

Internet users The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

: ** 317,717 users; 7.3% of the population, 158th in the world (2016 est.).Calculated using penetration rate and population data fro
"Countries and Areas Ranked by Population: 2012"
, Population data, International Programs, U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 26 June 2013."Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000-2012"
International Telecommunication Union (Geneva), June 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013. ** 20,000 users, 194th in the world (2009). * Fixed broadband: 78 subscriptions, 193rd in the world; less than 0.05% of the population, 192nd in the world (2012)."Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE, International Telecommunication Union. Retrieved on 29 June 2013. * Wireless broadband: Unknown (2012)."Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE, International Telecommunication Union. Retrieved on 29 June 2013. *

Internet hosts A network host is a computer or other device connected to a computer network. A host may work as a Server (computing), server offering information resources, services, and applications to users or other hosts on the network. Hosts are assigned at ...

: 7 hosts, 228th in the world (2012). *

IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth version of the Internet Protocol (IP). It is one of the core protocols of standards-based internetworking methods in the Internet and other packet-switched networks. IPv4 was the first version de ...

: 13,312 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 3.4 addresses per 1000 people (2012).Population
The World Factbook, United States Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on 2 April 2012. Note: Data are mostly for 1 July 2012.

Notable commercial websites

While Liberia's commercial internet sector is still behind the majority of African countries there are still a few classifieds sites:
liberiacommerce.com

Internet censorship and surveillance

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms."Liberia"
''Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012'', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 25 March 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2014. The constitution provides for

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

and

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a famil ...

, and the government generally respects these rights in practice.

Libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

and

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...

laws place some limits on freedom of speech. Individuals can generally criticize the government publicly or privately without reprisal. Some journalists practice

self-censorship Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or insti ...

. The constitution prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government generally respects these prohibitions in practice. President Sirleaf endorsed and signed the

World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization made up of 76 national newspaper associations, 12 news agencies, 10 regional press organisations, and many individual newspaper ex ...

Declaration of Table Mountain The Declaration of Table Mountain is a statement on press freedom in Africa. The statement was issued by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and World Editors Forum (WEF) at the 60th meeting of the World Newspaper Conf ...

in Monrovia on 21 July 2012, committing to the core principles of a free press and calling for the repeal of the criminal

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

and

insult An insult is an expression or statement (or sometimes behavior) which is disrespectful or scornful. Insults may be intentional or accidental. An insult may be factual, but at the same time pejorative, such as the word "inbred". Jocular exc ...

laws regularly used against journalists.

References

* *

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * (Includes information about broadcast media) * * *

External links

Liberia Domain Registration (.lr)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Communications In Liberia

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...