The President of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), Charles Cuffy on Friday, September 20, 2019 met with members of the Publishers Association of Liberia (PAL) in his bid to settle the ongoing conflict between members of the organization.
Few weeks ago, a split emerged in the Publishers Association of Liberia (PAL) as a result of some fundamental principles when a workshop which was organized by Long Stone Media Consultancy Firm with the sole objective to do a public relations for the government brought on board executives of the PAL including its President, Othello Garblah who is also Publisher of the New Dawn newspaper and his Vice President Sam Dean; Publisher of the Independent newspaper forming part of this workshop..
As a result of this, majority members of PAL expressed displeasure over such stance exhibited on the part of the Othello Garblah leadership to forming part of such a workshop aimed at doing public relations for the government, this eventually led to a breakaway group under the name and style the Independent Publishers Association of Liberia (IPAL) was formed.
The breakaway group, the Independent Publishers Association of Liberia (IPAL) headed by Alfred Togbah who is also the Publisher of the People’s newspaper resolved not to compromise with the Garblah leadership whose reported intent is to divide the membership of the organization, but rather decided to form its own independent organization.
This breakaway drama drew the attention of many in the media landscape including the leadership of the PUL, an umbrella organization of all media related organizations in the country to see reasons of calling on both parties as to what actually gave rise to this latest division in the PAL.
During the call meeting on Friday, September 20, 2019 at the office of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), the President of the Union, Mr. Charles Cuffy who during the meeting appeared disappointed with the current event taken place within the PAL, openly blamed the Othello Garblah’s leadership for such split.
Mr. Cuffy after Reproachfully speaking on the issue, further appealed to the IPAL leadership to reconsider its decision of quitting, noting that such development in the association is not healthy, noting, “All publishers are equal and professionally situated in their own capacities.
Mr. Cuffy also said the reported news of the exclusion of some publishers from the ongoing workshop aimed at discussing the salary harmonization exercise was inappropriate, adding, “All publishers are equal and are important as well”.
However, the leadership of IPAL through its interim President Alfred Togbah, promised to response to the appeal made by the PUL President in the shortest possible time after meeting with his members who are said to be majority publishers formed part of the Independent Publishers Association of Liberia (IPAL) with all of them resolving to reconsider their decision of returning back for any compromise.
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