The Point was not on point. Two girls, raped and sexually molested, were in the pages of the newspaper. This breach was gross – ethically and legally. The country was shocked. The doubting Thomases of the new-found press freedom shout from mountain tops: untrained and uneducatedbunch they are butka journaliso butongo lo. Those sitting on the fence have jumped on their side. Supporters of the press are reconsidering their position: well, I’m a believer of press freedom but how could they do that. Oh, no.
A born again: welcome to Africa’s newest democracy. Here, to err wasn’t journalism. Now it is. This time, the culprit is an unlikely villain.Dawda Faye, the file man. Seasoned.A specialist. Get to know him better than that: he carries more than two decades of experience in reporting courts in the file he carries. Enviably professional, he arrives at the court before the cleaners. His reporting style is simple and matter-of-factly: just write as the court says or does. No colouring, just a bit of sand-papering. He has authored two books being used in schools, including University of The Gambia. He has mentored the country’s finest journalists. The editor, Bekai Njie, belongs to a prestigious club of few journalists with a degree in the practice. The newspaper, The Point, is the country’s first of its kind and continues to lead.
When bad story comes from good journalists, what do you call that?
Is it a honeymoon or a democratic culture?
In spite of their professional pedigree, The Point and Dawda are not innocent. When you publish errors like this: ‘…car raising’, instead of ‘car racing’ in screaming headlines, that’s horrible. When you write a headline ‘Nigerian rapes…’, instead of a ‘man rapes’, that’s called sensational journalism. When you publish the names of underage sex abuse victims and describe the graphic nature of it, that’s reckless.
The Point is not alone. The Voice often makes mistakes, of grammar and facts. The Daily News and Foroyaa could do way better than they’re currently doing in cleaning up the copy. The Standard run corrections more times than acceptable from that paper. Sarjo Barrow and Pa Ndery Touray of Star FM are pushing the boundaries of objectivity in journalism.
No dispute here. There’s freedom and boom in the media after the dictatorship. Where there was only one television outlet, now there are several. Where online media used to operate from abroad, now greater number of them are on the ground and produce more verifiable editorial content. Where music used to dominate the air, now there’s information overload in radio broadcasts. Where laws dangle over heads, now they are asleep. Where mistakes are few and costly, now there are many and excusable.
Fortunately, the honeymoon may not be over, after all. Or, is it really a honeymoon or a genuine, lasting embrace of the values of press freedom? Time will tell. For now though, abominable mistakes are being accepted as part of the noise that comes with democracy.
Dawda and The Point could have been charged to court. If convicted, jail is likely. They haven’t and are unlikely to face criminal indictment. Instead, on social media and through official requests, the GPU has been called upon to act; and whip The Point on the Front Page. Press freedom cannot be any better when people recognise and appreciate the democratic norm that the press should regulate the press through moral sanctions. The government should stay far off.
The struggle against government regulation
The Gambia media had stood against repeated attempts by previous governments to regulate the media.The price paid was expensive. The question has never been whether the press should be regulated.Rather, it has been how the press should or ought to be regulated. There were deep divisions. There still are those divisions, although smaller. It is not only a matter of media vs government. It is also about conflicting views within media and within government.
In 2016, the GPU made an important first step towards establishing ethical standards by launching an industry-wide code of conduct. The code provides guidelines and ethical standards for all categories of news media journalists – print, radio, television and online. In 2017, the Union embarked on a nation-wide campaign – each media practitioner a copy – to popularise the code.
What has been missing is a body that will monitor compliance and enforcement of the code. A best practice visit in Ghana followed. A good amount of literature has been reviewed and more than ten experts consulted, from Norway to South Africa, from Ghana to Kenya, from Denmark to Zimbabwe, from UK to Australia. Consultations continue. From last week when the media reforms committee – a technical group co-chaired by GPU and Ministry of Information – scrutinised the founding documents, to this week when journalists, media owners and the members of the public will debate the issues, the Gambian model being developed will take into account international standards and Gambian characteristics.
Media Council of The Gambia
Few things are becoming clearer about what is proposed to be called Media Council of The Gambia. The Council, with a guaranteed independence, would be a non-statutory body, but it would be recognised by the state and will have legal underpinnings. Besides having a multi-stakeholder representation,it would regulate content across all media platforms – print, online, radio and television, and also state and private.
The fears about this model of media self-regulation are a matter of genuine concern. Would the Media Council have a tooth to bite without a legal framework and without a court-like order? What happens if an offending journalist refuses to comply with either the decision or the process?
Self-regulation works. It is the most prominent and common media regulation system in the world.The system is fair, fast and free. But one thing is clear: it is up to the media to make it work. The how of it is obvious: total submission to upholding the standards the media set for itself.
Journalists are no gods
Until few weeks ago, the power of moral sanctions has not been properly tested.Then, The Point newspaper published the names of sex abuse victims. Such media conduct is not only immoral, it is also seems to have violated a number of laws, including the Children’s Act, the Women’s Act and Sexual Offences Act.
However, The Pointhas refused calls to correct the story or apologise in an appropriate manner. It has also refused legitimate calls to pull down the story from its website. The Union’s press release, condemning the conduct, was trashed in the trash bin by most major media outlets.Some journalists even went further to call out the Union for publishing the condemnation. To them, the right thing to do was for the Union to visit the offices of The Point, and plead with them to put up an apology.
Journalists are no gods.The media make mistakes. Accountability of the media is an important hallmark of responsible journalism. The ethics of the profession require a journalist to swiftly correct a wrong-doing and apologise in an appropriate manner.
A Council in honour of Deyda Hydara
The Point’s refusal to appropriately apologise and swiftly pull down the story, and the refusal of some media outlets to publish the condemnation appear to send a clear message that the Gambia media has coalesced to show solidarity with an unethical conduct that is criminally indictable, rather than defend professional standards.
However, even as The Gambia media failed this first test, that doesn’t meanthat,there shouldn’t be a second chanceor a third chance or more chances. As we nurture our democracy, we are constantly reminded that we rather err on the side of democracy than err on the side of repression. But ultimately, the media cannot eat its cake and have it. The media have to make a choice: to embrace self-regulation or invite the state to come in with force.
In a democracy, where press freedom is valued, the choice is never mistaken. On December 23, therefore, in marking the 14thanniversary of the murder of Deyda Hydara, the GPU would launch the Media Council of The Gambia. There cannot be a more fitting way of honouring a former GPU president who paid the highest price in the defence of press freedom. Deyda stood strongly against the former government’s regulation of the media. Now he welcomes in his sleep the baby he anticipated. May His Soul Continue to Rest in Peace!
The author, Saikou Jammeh, is the Secretary General of The Gambia Press Union.
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MUSEUM OF BLACK CIVILISATIONS
This 2004 piece, which reflects on history as “progressive blindness”, is among the more recently created works
In November an experts’ report, commissioned by France’s President Emmanuel Macron, recommended that African treasures taken without permission be returned to their countries of origin.
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The African state with the highest number of art pieces in France is Chad, another former colony.
Image copyrightMUSEUM OF BLACK CIVILISATIONS 
MISOGYNISTIC GAMBIAN MEN, WHO ARE YOU TO CONDEMN A WOMAN WHO WANTS TO RUN FOR POLITICAL OFFICE?
Facts first, the constitution empowers every citizens to elect and be elected irrespective of their gender, profession, ethnicity, religion etc.
Yesterday i wrote an article on Freedom Newspaper arguing that we don’t need a glut of political parties in The Gambia as it won’t bring a healthy political system but that doesn’t mean people won’t register their parties if they express the desire to do so as it is a constitutional right.
Recently a female aspirant Fatoumata Rahman Coker made her intention known publicly that she want to register her political party and vie for political office and to my dismay and disappointment, Gambians, especially men descended on social media to throw insults at her from all angles.This is unacceptable and regrettable.
Remember she just made it known to us that she wants to register her political party and nothing else. We haven’t seen her party logo, color, manifesto and her ultimate reasons for the formation of the political party.
But our dirty mysogynistic men were quick to condemned her and some even went upto the extent of alleging that she’s a prostitute.My fellow Gambians who are you to judge someone.Who are to say that she can’t formed her own political party?
What are your reasons? Is it because she is a woman, single with no husband? Is it because she had a dark past? Is it because she don’t have any political experience? Is it because she is poor and financially handicapped?
If these are your reasons, then let me give you some lectures for free.
To start with those of you saying that she has a dark past behind her i will start with home to remind that our current Mayoress of Banjul faces similar criticisms during her campaign but that doesn’t deter her from pursuing her political ambition and what happened, she stayed strong, resist intimidation and won the battle among men. Who knows what she did 20 years, well that i can’t tell and not interested to know. But she was abled to campaign vigorously and convinced the people that she can do it as a woman.
Lets go back history in one of the world’s most powerful and biggest democracy – USA. We all know the US president is the most powerful person on earth. Some Former and current US presidents had a dark past. For example, Franklin Pierce who was elected into office as an alcoholic, Former president Zachary Taylor when he was nominated as leader of the Whig Party couldn’t even afford to pay for his postage stamp,James Buchanan (1857-1861) served as US president while unmarried, President Andrew Johnson has never been to school, Harry S. Truman was a dropout and many more.
Now let’s take a look at Donald Trump – He’s a racist, uneducated, has no political experience, he slept with prostitutes, was caught on video tape saying ‘’I grab women by the pussy “ but yet the Americans people elected him into office. They never looked at his past or his character but what he is capable of doing for the country was the reason they elected him. He sold his political manifesto to the American and they buy it.
My Gambian brothers and sisters, Why are you condemning Fatoumata Rahman Coker while we’ve already had people running political parties some of who were allegedly drug peddlers.How are these people better than Fatoumata Rahman Coker.What significance are they playing as politicians in their respective political parties. Have you ever questioned their means of living, profession, past etc? Are they perfect? No.
Who was Adama Barrow before he was elected flagbearer of the Coalition and did you question his educational background, profession, past, political experience when he was nominated? No because he is man and not a woman or maybe he’s one of you. Whatever your reasons, I believe that you can’t give me one tangible reasons why the aforesaid are any better.
Let’s graduate from pettiness, hypocrisy, bigotry and Misogyny and start respecting each others differences as Mufti Menk preached some few weeks ago. Let’s respect people’s choices,opinions, and how they choose to run their lives.
The past US midterm elections should be a lesson to the world that we can have different views, reasonings and we can choose to be who we want to be but at the end of the day everyone wants to see a better America and that’s the model we should emulate in The Gambia if we are serious about progress and aligning ourselves with the civilized nations.
Most of the people criticizing Fatoumata Rahman doesn’t even know, just from the hearsay that she’s is a female and a “Semester ‘’ they jumped to conclusions. This is unacceptable and we are urging every progressive minded Gambian to refrain from such despicable and discriminatory insinuations. She is a Gambian, physically and mentally fit to vie for any political office if she meets the constitutional requirements.
If you think she’s not the ideal one, there are other political parties you can always align with even though some of these parties are just by name and we have records of these party leaders and it’s not good at all.
Let’s respect our women and stop the unnecessary bullying and intimidation.For how many decades we’ve been having male dominated politicians and what difference did they make since independence? Zero.
I won’t conclude here that she can be a good politician but let’s stop judging people based on their background or profession? We’ve learned from history that others did it despite all odds why not today?
What we should be asking is her parties symbol and manifesto and not make some silly tantrums on social media.
I hope we can learn from others and emulate other progressive nations.
Wassalam.
Bulli Sowe