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 ''The Analyst'' (subtitled ''A Discourse Addressed to an Infidel Mathematician: Wherein It Is Examined Whether the Object, Principles, and Inferences of the Modern Analysis Are More Distinctly Conceived, or More Evidently Deduced, Than Religious ...

''"Liberia: LMC Extols Media Institutions"
''The NEWS'', 16 September 2008, AllAfrica. *Pumah Times Newspaper * '' Daily Observer'' (est. 1981), private. * '' The Daily Talk'' * '' FrontPage Africa'', private. * ''

The Inquirer ''The Inquirer'' (stylized as TheINQUIRER) was a British technology tabloid website founded by Mike Magee after his departure from ''The Register'' (of which he was one of the founding members) in 2001. In 2006 the site was acquired by Dutch ...

'', 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 or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

''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'' (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 Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...

: 1 state-owned radio station, but no national public service broadcaster; about 15 independent radio stations broadcasting in

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

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

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...

. ** Sky FM ** 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 set A television set or television receiver (more commonly called TV, TV set, television, telly, or tele) is an electronic device for viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or as a computer monitor. It combines a tuner, display, and loudspeake ...

s: 70,000 sets (1997). *Pumah TV Channel 4 *

Television stations A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

: 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 until 1968, when management passed to the Government of Liberia. Th ...

: Government owned Liberia National Television (LNTV).

Telephones

Calling code Telephone country codes are telephone number prefixes for reaching subscribers in foreign countries or areas by international direct dialing (IDD). Country codes are defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in ITU-T standard ...

: +231 *

International call prefix International direct dialing (IDD) or international subscriber dialling (ISD) is placing an International call, international telephone call, dialed directly by a telephone subscriber, rather than by a switchboard operator, telephone operator. Sub ...

: 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) is a Luxembourgish-American multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, United States. Originally formed ...

(

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

) (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 Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The fixed line infrastructure of Liberia was nearly completely destroyed during the

civil wars A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.James Fearon"Iraq' ...

(1989-1996 and 1999–2003). Prior to the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 2007, the state-owned Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (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 where the state owns the particular means of production or gover ...

for all fixed line services in Liberia, and remains the sole licensed fixed line telephone service provider in the country. Two licensed

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

cellular mobile service providers operate in the country: Lonestar Cell and CellCom. Approximately 45% of the population has cell phone service.

Internet

Top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domain name, 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 DNS root zone, root zone of the nam ...

: .lr * Internet users: ** 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 The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information ...

. Retrieved on 29 June 2013. *

Wireless broadband Wireless broadband is a telecommunications technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area. The term encompasses both fixed and mobile broadband. The term broadband Originally the wo ...

: Unknown (2012)."Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE,

. Retrieved on 29 June 2013. * Internet hosts: 7 hosts, 228th in the world (2012). *

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

: 13,312 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 3.4 addresses per 1000 people (2012).Population

The World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a Reference work, reference resource produced by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The off ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

. 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 Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

or Internet

chat rooms The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

."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 rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

and press, and the government generally respects these rights in practice.

Libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

and

national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...

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, typically out of fear or deference to the perceived preferences, sensibilities, or infallibility of others, and often without overt external pressure. Self-censorship is c ...

. 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 e ...

' Declaration of Table Mountain in

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

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

and

insult An insult is an expression, statement, or behavior that is often deliberately disrespectful, offensive, scornful, or derogatory towards an individual or a group. Insults can be intentional or unintentional, and they often aim to belittle, of ...

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 Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...