Frequency of Access             News Sources                Trust in Foreign Broadcasters

Information Access in Liberia

Liberians are enthusiastic news consumers despite relatively low access to all media (with the exception of radio). Chart 1 shows the frequency of accessing any kind of news and information.

Chart 1

The frequency of accessing news rise only marginally as income and education levels increase.  However, having access to some technology or media devices was crucial to being able to access information for respondents. We compared frequency of accessing news and information with access “anywhere” to the television, cable or satellite connections, radio sets or mobile phones- see results in chart below.

Chart 2

The table above shows that not having access to radio sets “anywhere” is the greatest divider between those who consume news daily and those who are unable to. Since radio is the most ubiquitous medium in the country, most people seem to depend on it for news, and unavailability of radio sets is highly correlated with lesser access to news and information.

Levels of access to television sets and mobile phones does not greatly affect the frequency of accessing news and information. This is because access to television sets is still linked with high incomes, regions with greater economic development, etc. Those without access to television sets, but with access to radio sets can still receive information. Mobile phones are much more prevalent- but only 35 percent of those with access to them ever use them to receive news updates via SMS. In this sense, the availability of television sets and mobile phones does not affect frequency of news access as much as access to radio does.

On the other hand, access to cable and satellite televisions also shows a stronger (stronger than television and mobile phones) correlation with frequency of accessing news. Ninety percent of those respondents who have access to cable and satellite connections access news daily, making them the proportionately highest sub group of news consumers among all 4 technology-access groups. 

News Sources in Liberia

News and current affairs feature high on the list of media content in which Liberians are interested. Many of the most popular radio stations are primarily news based—United Nations Mission in Liberia Radio (UNMIL) and BBC Shortwave, for example—underscoring the importance of news and information (compared to entertainment and other kinds of content) for respondents.  (See our media outlet matrix section for more details) In addition, due to the lack of a local or international radio station with national reach, community radio stations popular in particular regions or cities also play a crucial role (read more about community radio stations in Liberia).
                                                                                                                                                                                          At Sky Radio Station

                                                                                                                                        
Table 1

Among television viewers too, BBC World News is the most viewed channel and other international news channels such as Al Jazeera, Sky News, CNN and VOA are among the top channels viewed.

Table 3

Trust in Foreign Broadcasters

Liberia has a significant presence of foreign broadcasters and news providers. In addition, there are no national/local television channels and radio stations with ability to reach the entire country (see table 2 and 3 above). As a result, BBC, Voice of America, CNN, Sky News and Al Jazeera are just some of the foreign owned news providers in the region that are as popular (if not more in some cases) than the local news sources. 

The charts below show the level of trust Liberian respondents place in these organizations and how necessary they think it is to have access to them (Charts 3 and 4).

Chart 3

Chart 4