Kenneth Y. Best is an African journalist, a Liberian who founded The Daily Observer in Monrovia

Monrovia

Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Coast at Cape Mesurado, it lies geographically within Montserrado County, but is administered separately...

, Liberia

Liberia

Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

 and subsequently a paper of the same name

The Daily Observer

The Daily Observer is a newspaper published in Bakau in Banjul, The Gambia.The paper, Gambia's first daily newspaper, was founded by Kenneth Best in 1990. Best had previously managed another paper called the Daily Observer in Liberia, until the First Liberian Civil War caused him to relocate with...

 in Banjul

Banjul

-Transport:Ferries sail from Banjul to Barra. The city is served by the Banjul International Airport. Banjul is on the Trans–West African Coastal Highway connecting it to Dakar and Bissau, and will eventually provide a paved highway link to 11 other nations of ECOWAS.Banjul International Airport...

, The Gambia

The Gambia

The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....

.

Best was the nephew of the Americo-Liberian

Americo-Liberian

Americo-Liberians are a Liberian ethnicity of African American descent. The sister ethnic group of Americo Liberians are the Sierra Leone Creole people who are of African American, West Indian, and liberated African descent...

 and Caribbean journalist, Albert Porte

Albert Porte

Albert Porte was an Americo-Liberian political journalist and dissident who was the editor of the Crozerville Observer. In 1946, he became the first Liberian journalist to be imprisoned by President William Tubman...

.

In February 1981 Best founded the Daily Observer, one of the first daily newspapers in Liberia. Under the Presidency of Samuel Doe

Samuel Doe

Samuel Kanyon Doe was the 21st President of Liberia, serving from 1986 until his assassination in 1990. He had previously served as Chairman of the People's Redemption Council from 1980 to 1986. He was the first indigenous head of state in Liberian history.Doe was a part of a rural tribe in inland...

, the Daily Observer was subject to sustained political harassment.

The First Liberian Civil War caused Best to relocate with his family to the Gambia. There he founded Gambia's first daily newspaper, again called The Daily Observer. In October 1994, following Yahya Jammeh

Yahya Jammeh

Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh is the President of The Gambia...

's military coup, Best was expelled from Gambia, although the newspaper was allowed to continue and is still published today. He and his family moved to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Best was named one of International Press Institute

International Press Institute

International Press Institute is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. Founded in October 1950, the IPI has members in over 120 countries....

's 50 Heroes of World Press Freedom in 2000.

Works

• Cultural policy in Liberia, 1974
• African Challenge, 1975
• 'My Fight for Press Freedom', New African
  New African
  New African is an English-language monthly news magazine based in London. Published since 1966, it is read by many people across the African continent and the African diaspora...
  
  , August 1991

External links