Liberia is a republican country in the African continent. This is a comparatively larger land than the other neighboring nations and the media outlets are expanded accordingly. The tropical climate has made it an attractive destination for tourists around the world. Foreign media outlets are also available here for different interests. But among the media outlets, radio is the most preferred media outlet in the country. No other media outlets have been so preferred by the people as radio is. And this has happened for the lower level of literacy.
The other types of media outlets, particularly print media has not flourished so much. And the lower illiteracy rate is responsible for this. Hence, the readership of newspapers is lower than expected. But the other modes like television is also popular in the country. The radio and television channels have their own programs and sometimes those are customized based on necessities.
The media freedom in the country is ensured by the government. In fact, the media outlets are free to express their own thoughts and ideas freely and without being influenced by the government. But the media activities are mostly limited to the city areas only though some of the media outlets are available across the country. But the number of such outlets are limited.
Despite the media freedom, the press follows some strict rules and regulations. Exercising of self-censorship is one of them. In fact, this is the tool for the media outlets to protect them from any potential threat or subjugation of the government. Though it is ensured by the constitution that media is free to work, a self-censorship is required to run activities independently and in a risk-free manner.
All the newspapers are not printed in a regular basis. Some of them are published on biweekly basis. Some of them are state-run while the others are privately owned. But both the types try to maintain transparency to their respective audiences. Even the political parties have their own outlets. Some of the print outlets have been closed because of their lack of capacity to manage the outlets.
The media outlets were the victim of the civil war that ran for around seven years. The entire country was filled with unrest and it was troublesome to run the press activities. The activities were disrupted by the financial insufficiency and other contemporary issues. The circulation of newspapers went down and even at present the rate it lower too.
The media outlets mostly gather revenue from the advertisement but the rate of advertisement also went low in past. And due to lower circulation, different bodies and entities do not feel attracted to advertise them on such outlets. Rather, they prefer radio and television in this case.
Around 25 print outlets are operating in the country and most of them are published in the English language. They come with a wide number of issues and information. But the newspapers are unable to draw attention from a huge crowd because of lower literacy rate. Basically, generalized information is provided in the newspaper. Besides, the print media outlets are centered on the city areas only. And so, those are not accessible for all stages of people across the country.
Only two television channels are operating in the country. They provide the necessary news and information to their audiences. And the television channels are available across the country. People watch a notable number of television shows and programs. Actually, the television channels cater the needs of the people and sometimes of the political parties as well.
Radio is the most popular type of media outlet here. There are over 50 radio stations are available and they run programs round the day. And the audience is available across the nation. The radios play the key role of communication for the people. And this is a great source of entertainment as well. Most of the radio stations come with the local languages while they have different categories as well based on their audience type.
The use of the internet is increasing in the country. The number of the internet users has crossed 350,000 and the number is increasing indeed. The internet users mostly use the internet to browse the social websites and to know about the happenings around them.