Center for Media Studies and Peace Building (CEMESP)

CEMESP draws on the use of both the internet and face-to-face connections to reach out to media personnel in order to serve as "a motivational force for making media and peace building relevant anchors for the development of Liberia." For example, the project website offers a documentation centre which is designed to be a one-stop destination for information about media and peacebuilding activities in (and related to) Liberia. Visitors to the site may access information about various sectors of the media, practitioners and their areas of competence, media organisations, media laws, and issues generally related to freedom of expression. To cite one example, the centre provides information on peacebuilding activists, activities, and institutions in Liberia. Daily headlines from Liberia and elsewhere are offered, and visitors may connect to relevant websites and media development/peacebuilding portals.

In addition, CEMESP supports the institutional development of the media (both traditional and modern) in the area of peacebuilding and conflict resolution mechanisms. The centre has conducted training for journalists, traditional communicators, and local leaders in the area of peacebuilding and development since 2000. Here are a few examples:

• With the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), CEMESP held a workshop entitled "Preparing Women for Leadership Roles in the Liberian Media." As part of this effort, 30 participants were selected from the print and electronic media and mass communications departments of the University of Liberia, African Methodist Episcopal University, and the United Methodist University. Topics addressed at the workshop included: female media makers in democratic societies, women in media and leadership, reporting gender and development issues, balancing family and work, managing change, media law and ethics, news writing, and interviewing techniques. The participants adopted a resolution through which they called for institutional policies that would encourage "women leadership" in the media, amongst other calls to action.
• In partnership with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), CEMESP conducted the following training programmes: two 6-week intensive journalism skills training workshops for beginner journalists; a 6-week media management skills training workshop for managers of radio stations, newspapers, and television stations; and a 6-week intensive journalism skills training workshop for middle-level journalists. (The latter training course is ongoing).
• In partnership with Norwegian Human Rights Fund, CEMESP conducted 2 workshops for urban and rural journalists on economic, social, and cultural rights.

CEMESP also conducts research into media and peace-related issues. For example, following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Liberia in Accra, Ghana (August 2003), CEMESP undertook a survey to gauge the public perception of the participation of the Liberia media in the implementation of the peace accord. In addition, in its role as a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), CEMESP has been involved in documenting and reporting on attacks on freedom of expression in Liberia. As a result of this process, in January 2008, CEMESP released a publication titled "The Perennial Tragedy of Democracy in Liberia: Attacks on Freedom of Expression 2006-2007".

Democracy and Governance, Conflict, Human Rights.

CEMESP was founded in March 2000 by a group of Liberian journalists interested in sustaining peace, democracy, human rights, free expression, and development in that country.

"The culture of silence perpetrated by the long years of misrule in Liberia has weakened the Liberian media's drive to improve their technologies. At the same time, tough media rules restricted attempts by the media to go online, limiting their audience coverage to only Liberia and mainly Monrovia, the country's capital."