MONROVIA, September 19 (LINA) - The Press Union of Liberia (PUL) will dedicate the observance of its 50th Anniversary on September 30, 2014 to the national fight against the Ebola virus that has claimed close to 1,500 lives across the country.
The day will be exclusively observed as an all-media anti-Ebola awareness day throughout the country.
According to a PUL press release, broadcast media houses will dedicate the entire day to airing the media’s own role in the national fight, with members of the PUL going into selected communities to deliver messages of hope and treatment to the people.
Community and rural radio stations will relay messages aired on bigger stations to ensure that broadcasts from selected communities will be simultaneously aired across the country.
“This time it will not be the government giving the media information to give to the people,” PUL President K. Abdullai Kamara said, adding, “Media practitioners will themselves be going into the communities to deliver the messages, and this will give the people confidence that there is hope in the fight against Ebola.”
In the release, the Union said while the media has been playing a significant role in creating public awareness that has led to change of attitude among the population, meeting and engaging communities face-to-face with preventive and safety information will be a plus to the national response.
The PUL Golden Jubilee observance will also consider strengthening policy advice to the government, continued awareness by the media and physical impact on affected communities, while paying homage to all Liberians who have fallen to the virus.
The journalists union is calling on media houses to commit the day to making individual and collective contributions to the fight against the dangerous epidemic.
Meanwhile, the PUL has announced with sadness the death of journalist Yaya Kromah.
Family members told the Union Thursday afternoon that he died at the Ebola Treatment Center at the J.F.K. Hospital in Monrovia. He is the first Liberian journalist to fall prey to the disease.
“May his passing inspire in all journalists and members of the Press Union of Liberia the courage to step up awareness and education about Ebola across Liberia,” PUL Prexy Kamara said.
LINA GDJ/TSS/PTK