Monday 28 May 2012

Young Liberian Female Journalist Takes up Diplomatic Post

A young Liberian female journalist who has earned her stripes in newsrooms locally, is now joining the ranks of Gabriel Williams, Josephus Moses Gray and other, more senior journalistic figures as press attaché to one of Liberia's key embassies abroad.
It is a testament to Vivian Gartayn's understanding and knowledge of her craft – journalism – that she has been appointed by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Minister Counselor for Press and Public Affairs at the Embassy of the Republic of Liberia near Abuja, Nigeria.  This young and dynamic journalist was once a radio reporter covering the Executive Mansion, an assignment she undertook with spunk, professionalism and poise.  Her reportage has had a diverse appeal to a wide audience, and won the respect and appreciation of her audience.
Vivian Gartayn is a native of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. By her own admission, her early schooling was very frequently disrupted by the protracted conflict that plagued Liberia for nearly two decades. Vivian had to travel back and forth between Monrovia and Buchanan to escape the fighting while striving to complete her secondary studies. Having finally achieved that goal, she settled in Monrovia to pursue a higher education. She graduated from the University of Liberia in 2010 with a degree in Mass Communication and Sociology, before spending close to a year as a reporter at the UNMIL Radio, the communications arm of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
First bitten by the journalism bug in 2004, Vivian enrolled in a journalism school operated by the Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS), which provided opportunities for hands-on experience, as well as theory.  The skills garnered there landed her a position at Star Radio where, in 2005, she began in earnest her career as a journalist.
Vivian recounts her early days in the field: “I joined Star Radio after a batch of newly recruited female journalists were dropped by the entity, following its first phase of hands-on training. I was encouraged by a friend to come on board. At first, I was afraid, thinking that only those who had been in the profession for a considerable number of years were qualified to join. But I was wrong. After another round of two weeks training, I was among fifteen persons selected to start the new Star Radio.”

Gartayn reported for Star Radio for five years, starting out as a Roving Reporter and then serving as Executive Mansion Correspondent. “I later became Deputy News Editor of Star Radio, before the station had some managerial problems and closed down,” she said.

Vivian holds nothing back when expounding upon the positive impact of Star Radio on her career: “My experience at Star Radio is something I think really developed me as a journalist.  I really appreciate Star Radio for grooming me into this profession. There, I had lots of opportunities to grow professionally and academically [...] I will always appreciate the Star Radio.”

Vivian's passion is not limited to journalism, however. She has long desired to pursue a graduate degree in Regional Planning with the sole aim of  filling the strategic void she senses in Liberia's nation building apparatus. One day, however, while brainstorming on the options available to her, she received a phone call from a friend asking her to check the website of the Ministry of Information, Culture & Tourism. There, she found a call for applications for the post of Minister Counselor for Press and Public Affairs, Liberia Embassy near Abuja, Nigeria.

“I looked it up, applied and sat an interview conducted by a six-person panel,” she said. In no time, she got a call from the President's Office offering her the position! “I was informed that there was a recommendation for nomination from the Ministry of Information for that above mentioned post. I was then asked if I would like the post and I responded in the affirmative. I only added that I would be ready for the post within three weeks because I had to give the UN a notice within that period. By September 1, 2011, I was appointed and got my letter to go to Abuja.”Vivian was last week commissioned by the Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hon. J. Levi Demmah, on behalf of the President of the Republic of Liberia. She left the country last Sunday to take up her new assignment in Abuja.

“I see this new job as an opportunity to serve my country,” she says. “There were many people who applied. So, to be the one chosen by the President, I think she saw something in me. Because, even if I pleased the panel at the Information Ministry, she had to make the ultimate decision.

“I also see this job as a challenge, because I understand that among the Minister Counselors for Press and Public Affairs at Liberian embassies across the world, I am the only female. Moreover, I am going to an embassy where there had been no office for Minister Counselor for Press and Public Affairs. I don't know whether they had it before the war. But since the war, they haven't had it. So, it's like I'm going to set it up. In any case, by the grace of God and with all efforts, I believe I can make it,” she said.
And make it, she can. Vivian Gartayn is not only a skilled transmitter of current events, but a forceful and committed professional in her field. I recall that once, during a Cabinet Retreat in Grand Cape Mount County, this dedicated soldier of the airwaves and I nearly slept in the Executive Mansion Press bus because we had been kicked out at about 11P.M. by the apparent owner of the room we had booked for the duration of the retreat. Moreover, we, like the rest of the reporters, were operating on an empty stomach, due to the unfortunate shortage of restaurants in that part of the country. The next morning, however, we rose up early and set out to capture the news of the day with as much gusto as ever.
Gartayn has proven herself to be a leader and a role model for female journalists in Liberia, and we look forward to more success stories from this trailblazer as she rides off on her new adventure.

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