“The Oppressors Are Seated, While The Oppressed Are Standing”: Deltin Dorley Condemns Media Executives’ Dinner With President Boakai

Monrovia, Liberia:Liberian journalist Deltin Dorley has strongly criticized the decision to hold a dinner involving President Joseph Nyuma Boakai and media executives, arguing that greater attention should be given to journalists who continue to work under difficult financial conditions, including low and delayed salaries.

Dorley reacted to the presidential engagement by questioning whether such gatherings adequately reflect the realities facing ordinary journalists in Liberia. He argued that reporters who work daily to gather information, cover breaking news and keep the public informed are often among the least recognized and poorly compensated members of the media industry.

In a sharply worded statement, Dorley wrote: “The oppressors are seated, while the oppressed are standing and holding cameras over them.” His comment suggests that there is a growing disconnect between media executives and the journalists working under them, particularly over salaries and working conditions.

Dorley further argued that a media dinner should be designed to recognize the journalists who bear the greatest burden of the profession. “A media dinner should be reserved for those media professionals who are often underpaid and deserve to be properly recognized and supported,” he stated.

His reaction has again brought the issue of underpayment and poor working conditions for Liberian journalists into public discussion. Reporters are often required to work long hours, cover dangerous or difficult assignments, travel extensively and meet demanding deadlines, while some receive salaries that they say do not adequately reflect the responsibilities of their profession.

The criticism also raises broader questions about the responsibility of media executives to protect the welfare of the journalists they employ. Beyond interactions with government officials, journalists and media workers argue that media institutions should prioritize fair and timely salaries, adequate working equipment, transportation support, insurance and safer working environments.

Dorley’s statement ultimately shifts the focus from the presidential dinner to the journalists behind the cameras, raising a difficult question for Liberia’s media industry: if journalists are expected to hold government and society accountable, who will hold media owners and executives accountable for the conditions under which journalists themselves work?