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Exiled Journalist Leader Deplores Stagnation of Country’s Media Landscape
Thursday, 05 May 2011 21:41
(Jollofnews) - As Gambian journalists joined the media fraternity and rights activists around the globe to
commemorate World Press Freedom Day, Ndey Tapha Sosseh, the exiled President of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), deplored the situation of stagnation that characterizes the Gambian media.World Press Freedom Day is commemorated around the world every May 3rd, to draw attention to the situation of one of the most important pillars in development – the media.
UNESCO encourages 2011 celebrations to focus on the potential of the Internet and digital platforms as well as the more established forms of journalism in contributing to freedom of expression, democratic governance, and sustainable development. It is all centered around the year`s theme: 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers.
“The developments in new media are yet to become threat to traditional media in The Gambia as in other parts of the world, so long as access to and affordability of new media tools remain out of reach of ordinary Gambian media practitioners,” Ms Sosseh said in a statement read on her behalf.
Scores of Gambian journalists had gathered at The Association of NGOs (TANGO) Conference Hall in Kanifing (some 6 kilometers from Banjul), to commemorate the day.
Recent wave of democratization means that many of the countries in this region have gone past the stage of demanding for mere freedom of speech. The focus – from Bamako to Dakar to Free Town, are mostly on measures to ensure sustainability of already established legislations, and in some other cases the campaign for Freedom of Information laws.
While journalists in Mali and Sierra Leone, for instance, are working towards consolidating their gains along these lines, in Gambia, the journalist community is still struggling to have the government recognize it as bonafide member of society. The presence of the GPU president in exile, for close to two years now, is a clear testimony to the dire situation the country`s media practitioners are faced with. President Yahya Jammeh makes no effort to hide his intention to undo the present influence of the Gambian umbrella press body.
While her colleagues gathered in Gambia to commemorate the day, the GPU president remains in Bamako, where she continues to invoke the biblical saying that: ““A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown...”
For the person of Ndey Tapha Sosseh, two years in exile in a country like Mali couldn`t have been any more rewarding, much to the disappointment of the authorities in Banjul. Not only that is she highly respected by all those she deals with in Mali and beyond, given the wide scope of her operation as the coordinator of the West Africa Journalists Association`s Capacity Building Project, she has also cultivated a remarkable relationship with the government of Mali. The warm relationship between her and senior members of the Malian government strongly attests to this.This was demonstrated last week in Bamako, when she met for the first time, officially, with the newly appointed Minister of Communication, who assured of his continuation of the relationship established by his predecessor.
A televised debate organized by the Malian media ahead of the commemorations discussed this domineering subject of new media tools. But while Malians may have tended to focus more on efforts to maximize dissemination of information, the same couldn`t be said for their Gambian counterparts, whose focus weighs heavily towards the arduous government measures aimed at curtailing their effectiveness.
The “benefits of new media outweigh the downsides”, the GPU president stressed in her message to Gambians. She called on especially “journalists, media practitioners and media institutions to join the bandwagon and take advantage of the unending possibilities”.
“Anyone who does not do so is doing so to their disadvantage,” she warned.
In a context of internet filtering mounted by the authorities to block three online newspapers (www.freedomnewspaper.com; www.thegambiaecho.com; and www.jollofnews.com), these powerful words of the GPU president sound like a veritable call for action against the retrogressive trends that continue to hang over the Gambian media. Overcoming the hurdles will help the country to move forward as “journalists, newspapers, radio stations and listeners all have a lot more to gain”, she noted.
Described by many as a country with deplorable human rights record, Gambia has been in the spotlight over this past decade for constantly muzzling the press and stifling the right to information. It is hoped that guidance along these lines will soon help authorities to desist from building internet barriers susceptible of depriving ordinary Gambians the right to have access to alternative news sources…
Written by Abdoulie John
Photo: Ndey Tapha Sosseh with Mali`s Minister of Communication in Bamako
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Comments
What a joker !!!
Your are a "little man" Batch Samba Jallow.
For in this small town here in the heart of Cumbria...of just 30,000 people, we generate more income and more GDP than the whole of Gambia.
Go get a tractor and start something for your country...instead of exploiting our democracy here in The West.
Stop trying to compare growth to economic size. This lack of intelligence may wear well with poor Gambian...but an Englishman cannot be decieved by your rubbish.
Regarding Mai Ahmed Fatty..or Mr Darboe or OJ or Halifa....they are all stars.
Not fake dreamers.
Stop being so disrespectful to your betters.You are not fit to call them out.
The "New" day is coming... mark my words.
Stick with Jammeh and his "scattergun" economics. Gambian are awakeing from the long night.
There is no true democracy in the world.Of course,there are some good,better and worst ones but each of them has some rotten skeleton hidden in their closets.If your British way of gauging success is different from the Gambia way,it does'nt mean that the Gambians are wrong.If your Economy was growing at a fast pace like that of the Gambia,it would have been the world's best by now.Does the modernization of the opposition mean picking up arms against the government?. Neither you nor Mai Fatty(your star)know what a true democracy is.
We do not need to import any mentors from the west to come and start singing the same song of democracy that they so lack in their countries.Of course,you are invited to listen and watch but the major decisions rest on our shoulders as Gambians.
Without going back to the "explain game" of a thousand words.
The short but unsatisfactory answer;
President Jammeh is benefitting, NOT from the success of his Economic,Justic e or Social policies.For on any barometer of measure...he has failed miserably.
Gambian's like many African's have never witnessed what true democratic leaders can achieve. So therefore they see Jammeh as the only model...by which to gauge success.
On the other hand...your "old" opposition has never modernised. They are stuck in the dark days of the 1960's when hope was the foundation..but inexperience was the truth.
That is until Mai Ahmed Fatty came along and wondered...
What would happen if I gave real democracy to Gambian's?
Would they recognise it and vote for it?
Give it 5 years...and a lot of hard work
Gambian's may just raise there expectations?
My Dear Brother and Friend Michael Scales I just read your piece on Maafanta. For me you are a genuine Gambian by heart. THANKS.
Meanwhile, this is my email address: PrinceBubacarrA Sankanu
Have a peaceful time.
PRINCE BUBACARR SANKANU
Are we really in the 21st century yet?
Did we go to the moon...and back?
Did we?
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