--- title: Liberia's Daily Chalkboard Newspaper | TIME description: In Monrovia, Alfred Sirleaf runs 'The Daily Talk,' a chalkboard newspaper that displays the day's news in local dialect and is read aloud to help the illiterate stay informed canonical: https://time.com/video/JBeg2Ab5/ og:title: Liberia's Daily Chalkboard Newspaper og:description: In Monrovia, Alfred Sirleaf runs 'The Daily Talk,' a chalkboard newspaper that displays the day's news in local dialect and is read aloud to help the illiterate stay informed og:url: https://time.com/video/JBeg2Ab5/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/JBeg2Ab5/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Liberia's Daily Chalkboard Newspaper twitter:description: In Monrovia, Alfred Sirleaf runs 'The Daily Talk,' a chalkboard newspaper that displays the day's news in local dialect and is read aloud to help the illiterate stay informed twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/JBeg2Ab5/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Liberia's Daily Chalkboard Newspaper > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Liberia's Daily Chalkboard Newspaper [Watch (HLS stream): Liberia's Daily Chalkboard Newspaper](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JBeg2Ab5.m3u8) (6:07)  _Published 2011-05-16. In Monrovia, Alfred Sirleaf runs 'The Daily Talk,' a chalkboard newspaper that displays the day's news in local dialect and is read aloud to help the illiterate stay informed_ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:13 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [People Are Prank Calling Liberia’s Ebola Hotline](/video/HcGM1a2H/) ### People Are Prank Calling Liberia’s Ebola Hotline [Watch: Liberia’s Ministry of Sound](/video/nUewvYJw/) ### Watch: Liberia’s Ministry of Sound [Child Rape: Liberia's Open Wound](/video/lepUFPll/) ### Child Rape: Liberia's Open Wound --- ## Transcript Every morning, this tiny road side shed in [ UNKNOWN ] Liberya gets transformed, from a plywood box into a unique and celebrated blackboard news service, known as the Daily Talk. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So, all over there, these are all sewers. It's the creation of 37 year old Alfred Surley, no relation to President Elen Johnson Surley. He provides daily talk, free, to all passersby. Oh, this is to these stories and [ INAUDIBLE ]. Surley has managed to keep daily talk going, with the help of donations and determination. Our vision is not to sell the news out there, but to help them to understand, because there is a need, for every Liberians to contribute to the rebuilding process of this society. And this can only be done through, informations. His stories spring from a variety of sources. Some from other newspapers, but Surley also says, he has a country wide network of volunteers who call in stories. In addition, Surley has a core staff of 5, all unpaid. One of them is photo editor Sirleaf. So here, even the man who had not been in school can read this voice. This is not just a voice but for everybody. According to the World Bank, more than 40 % of Liberians over 15 years old are illiterate. But daily talk draws in, even poor readers as fans. With those who can read often doing it aloud for their friends who can't. But, it all started from the Liberians civil crisis. He says, his inspiration for a free news source, came to him in the 1990s during the civil war years. He was visiting Liberians in camps, for those displaced by the violence of the war. And I saw the need, on the faces of these people into these [ INAUDIBLE ] camps. And their, their curiousity to get informed, to know what's happening. And then I, and then I, something kept stirring in me, saying, look. There's a need to have these people, but how can an idea comes forth, that can make somebody to know actually what is unfolding in Liberia. It took time to get it going but by 2000 with the war still on, Sirleaf had his 1st blackboard up. During those years, Liberia was headed by it's infamous president and warlord Charles Taylor. And Taylor was not a man who took press criticism lightly. And it was [ INAUDIBLE ] twice [ INAUDIBLE ] regime, you know, by secretive forces that is the secretive forces. [ INAUDIBLE ] Sirleaf, built this current shed after the peace accord in 2004, when he reopened Daily Talk. Using an ingenious system, Surlief's latest design, allows him to leave the outside edition up, while he works inside on the newest stories. [ INAUDIBLE ] next stories. [ INAUDIBLE ] People know [ UNKNOWN ] will come our way. You know, when you use a western style of headline, [ INAUDIBLE ] move them you know, it's a, it's a old style, this English style, the American style. They're not interested any more. So, you've to do, come over here [ INAUDIBLE ], now [ INAUDIBLE ] it. Another way he widens appeal is through phrases written in the local [ INAUDIBLE ], known here as Liberian English. That, those kinda of English is not from the Western world. Neither is from the library setting. So, those are phrases we use. That God beating them so, is not from any Western dictionary. It mean that the wrath of God is coming upon you. So, when you look at our phrases, it also amuse the librarian reading all them. Surely if it's also assembled a collection of eye grabbing news prompts. [ CROSSTALK ] Why do we use this [ UNKNOWN ]? That is the [ UNKNOWN ] that is used by UN peace keeping forces in country. [ UNKNOWN ] including Liberia. Whether it's his United Nations helmet to announce stories on the UN Security Forces, his broom for corruption stories, [ SOUND ] or his oil bucket, each prop helps announce the main topic of the day. And, in Liberia [ INAUDIBLE ] people understand, that we're talking about oil, and we use camera we use all computer. You know, I mean, [ UNKNOWN ] all are intended to get the audience interest to, to, to, to read the news. Surleaf has an office nearby in donated space, where he speeds through stacks of newspapers and phones in reports. [ INAUDIBLE ] These days, Daily Talk doesn't worry about the government shutting it down, but it does worry about having the money to sustain Daily Talk. He wants more cameras and a computer and more than anything else, he wants Daily Talk to go nationwide. Yeah, we're talking about a million plus people out there. Not only those that are in Morovia. We want to see digital be decentralized into the raw era, I swear. Liberia is a beautiful country. The people of Liberia, are beautiful people. They're proud of their country. They want to see their country be like other countries around the world. And, th, that's what is love. You know, Liberian love to feel being part of something, you know, to have, like Liberia move forward. [ INAUDIBLE ] is about you, your very self. The media institution idea. From Monrovia, Liberia, this is Ed Robbins for Time Video and the International Reporting Project. 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