University of Minnesota media ethics professor Jane Kirtley was “commissioned” by the U.S. State Department to write a handbook for “members of foreign governments and the media” about “the responsibilities of a free press,” NECN.com reported.

The book, Media Law Handbook, has “an initial press run of 30,000 copies.”

As iMediaEthics has previously reported, the U.S. State Department has sponsored training by American journalists of journalists in Liberia.  In September, the State Department sent a journalism dean, Mitchell Land of University of North Texas, to Liberia to train Liberian journalists. U.S. State Department’s African Affairs bureau director, Bill Strassberger, told StinkyJournalism via e-mail tha it was a “regular practice” of the State Department to train the media.

In November, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, Linda Thomas Greenfield, announced an $11 million civil and media program in Liberia backed by U.S.AID.