Rodney D. Sieh
Journalist on Trial is the captivating story of Rodney D. Sieh, one of Africa's finest investigative journalists. This story will resonate with virtually every journalist today in an era consumed by daily tweets of a sitting US President and a 24-hour news cycle that has seen real news eclipsed by fake news, and attempts to muzzle the free press. As publisher of Liberia's leading newspaper, FrontPageAfrica, Sieh’s explosive reports have led to arrests, prosecutions and investigations of prominent Liberian government officials. Sentenced to 5,000 years in prison for a trumped-up libel charge in 2013 (an attempt to stop him from exposing government corruption), Sieh’s arrest and jailing triggered an international outcry with journalist rights groups (reporters from The New York Times, Toronto Star, BBC) securing his release. Sieh’s work landed him among Reporters Without Borders' Information Heroes of 2014. As a reporter for the Daily Observer newspaper and the British Broadcasting Corporation, Sieh’s coverage of the deaths and disappearances that followed Yahya Jammeh’s coup d’état on July 22nd, 1994, forced him once again into exile to London, where he fled in 1994. He later took refuge in the United States.
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“searing memoir, a must-read for anyone interested in the mass of contradictions in today’s Liberia…” – Helene Cooper, author, House on Sugar Beach
“A powerful and important book from a powerful and vitally important voice. Here’s to more of this voice shaping the conversation about Liberia and Africa - for decades to come.” - Rachel Pulfer, Executive Director, Journalists for Human Rights, Canada
“… Rodney D. Sieh is the most committed -- nay, single-minded -- journalist I've ever known... from his youth in a blasted, brutalized Liberia straight through the horrors that forged him… For Sieh, journalism is a creed, a faith that offers salvation to a world in urgent need of it, and his story shows the high price of living without compromise.” – Brooke Gladstone, Editor, WNYC Radio show On The Media
“Civil war, coups and corruption, you name it, Sieh has chronicled it… This is his story: one of courage, principle and afflicting the powerful.” - Angela Quintal, Africa Program Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists
UK-US-Canada International Book Tour:
Oct. 18: Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, speech: 10 St. James’s Square, London, SW1Y 4LE, UK – BBC to cover event and also interview Sieh. Other media interviews TBA
Oct. 20: Book-signing, talk with African Community Fitzroy House, 37 Fitzroy St, Fitzrovia, London W1T 6DX |
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Title: Journalist on Trial / Rodney D. Sieh Softcover ISBN 978-1-988058-39-9 / $19.95 USD Hardcover ISBN 978-1-988058-40-5 / $39.95 USD Manor House / Rights Agent: Nigel Yorwerth Release: Oct. 17 / 2018 Stats: 288 pages, 6x9” Non-Fiction: Autobiography / Journalism UK-Europe: Gazelle Books World: Ingram |
Nov. 2: University of Sheffield, 9 Mappin Street
Nov. 5: University of Kent, Room G1-07, Gillingham Building, Chatham Marine, ME4AG UK
TBA: US appearances in New York, Washington, Chicago, LA (Syracuse University confirmed-Nov 13). Canada leg of tour follows with Toronto TBA) |
