Quick Facts
Biography
Kenneth Y. Best (born 28 October 1938) is a Liberian journalist who founded The Daily Observer (in Liberia) and a paper of the same name in the Gambia.
Best was the nephew of the Americo-Liberian and Caribbean journalist Albert Porte.
Career
In February 1981 Best founded the Daily Observer, a daily newspaper. Under the Presidency of Samuel Doe, 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'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. In 2012, Best published The Evolution of Liberia's Democracy: A Brief look at Liberia’s Electoral History – 1847-2011.
Awards
Best was named one of International Press Institute's 50 World Press Freedom Heroes in 2000.
Works
- Cultural Policy in Liberia, 1974
- African Challenge, 1975
- "My Fight for Press Freedom", in New African, August 1991.
- The Evolution of Liberia's Democracy: A Brief look at Liberia’s Electoral History – 1847-2011, 2012