In a message dated 6/22/2008 3:25:16 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Breaking News
Point Director  
Pap Saine  Disappoints  His Journalists
By Solo,  Banjul  correspondent...........June18th,  2008A 
 
[young sports reporter at the Point Newspaper by the name of Mr.  Ebou Manneh 
has received the  
shock of his life recently when he  wrote a story indicating that the new 
coach for the Scorpions Paul  
Put was not happy with the ministry’s plans to  hire a Gele-Gele to  
transport the Scorpions to Dakar 
ahead of their match with  Algeria.]


Ma Yero:
Was there a plan to transport the Scorpions or their entourage to Dakar  by 
Gelegele?
I would also call Monsieur Put to assess his view and feelings on such  plan. 
If there was no plan for such by the ministry, what was Mr. Put  expressing 
disappointment to? Right here is where the veracity of the story  can be 
established even without talking to anybody.
 
1. The coach of the team is a high official within the sports  department. It 
would be silly for him to be informed of the ministry's plans  for his team 
and their entourage by an apprentice reporter from The Point. If  Mr. Put had 
indeed been made aware of the Gelegele plan by Mr. Manneh, then it  is time for 
Mr. Put to resign as coach of the scorpions. It will have  indicated an 
onerous sleight of him. If we bury our heads in the sand and  agree the story is 
untrue and that Mr. Put was being made aware for the first  time by a reporter, 
before he expresses his feeling on it, as a professional,  he should have 
verified the existence of such a plan before he opines on it to  a reporter.
 
2. Is the Point and Pap Saine members of the GPU? I remembered at a  meeting 
of the GPU and the VP, the latter acknowledged the strained relations  between 
the media and the state. Surely therefore, Mr. Saine must have been  aware of 
potential rift between all his reporters and all the state.  Further, if Mr. 
Saine really wished to smoothe relations between the  Point and the SOS, the 
avenue is to forward his complaint to the GPU,  which acts on the behalf of 
Gambia media houses in matters of state. It is  when each media house postures to 
enhance relations between their outlet and  the state that the GPU is further 
weakened and selective treatment and favors  are corruptibly doled out.
 
3. Therefore, I do not believe Axi called Mr. Saine for he  would have called 
Mr. Saine prior to this report by Ebou. And if Axi  was so dumb as to call 
Pap on one of his reporters, Mr. Saine ought to have  referred the good SOS to 
the GPU. This is what happens when you try to cover  lies and mischief. 
Remember, fear of a lawsuit from Axi was not issue because  Axi does not rely on 
lawsuits to yield himself relief, remember? He therefore  must have gotten the 
idea from somewhere. After the fact. To come in line with  the cockamayme story.
 
4. I think all newspapers must omit teary eyed stories of adoptions and  
relations between parties that are extraneous to professional demarche.  Forgive 
me if I don't flip sommersaults at their generousities. They are all  
intimidation tactics. I encourage Mr. Manneh to file suit of the threat by the  SOS and 
seek other employ either from Gainako, The Gambia Echo, Freedomnews,  
Senegambianews, AllGambian, or The Gambia journal. Or indeed the Daily  observer. At 
best, he cannot write what he wants to write or be honest about  what he 
writes in the future especially on sports in the Gambia if he remains  at the Point 
newspaper. I prefer death to insiduous employ.
 
5. Let us assume the story is wrong and Mr. Saine declined to publish it.  If 
as he said that he had his reporter's best interest at heart, why would he  
even bring the issue up with the SOS? Because when he drops the story, that  
takes care of his fear of a suit of libel or slander by the SOS dudn't it? And  
your reporter still has to write stories on sports that may be of more import  
than gelegeles and circumstance. And with confidence. Sans intimidation.
 
6. With the complexities of running a whole state department, this SOS  has 
the time and latitude to commit felonies threatening the lives of  reporters. 
What if there is really something about his ministry that the head  of state 
needs to know about. I suppose he will brief Yahya on the truth, the  whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth? The mediocrity and misplaced  priorities sickens 
me to the core.
 
In effect Yero, I would discourage Gainako from waiting for sides of a  
one-sided story. In journalism, the veracity of a story is not established  solely 
by talking to all parties concerned with the story. Journalism school  teaches 
information processing in its early pre-requisites. Why would Pap  Saine and 
Axi only share their friggin side with The esteem Gambia Echo when  The Echo's 
editor called them for an interview? If the story was not true, and  it was 
dropped by the Point for that reason, but Gainako ended up standing by  the 
lowly reporter after due diligence and a review of past reof these  mango-heads, 
you'd think Gainako's phones will be ringing off the hook in  their efforts to 
correct the story which Gainako will be only too glad to  publish. No 
dropping there as we all know. They are therefore and  unawares, inserting a wedge 
between The esteem Echo and Gainako. These  idiots!!!
 
I am always reachable and I answer my phone pleasantly. Or I could be  
reached here if all else fails.
 
Mbaleh Jam. Masoud. 
 
4. 
 
2. 


According to sources at the Point Newspaper, Mr. Pap Saine,   the Point 
Director who was not keen 
in publishing the story not only  dropped  the story but called Mass Axi Gai, 
the Secretary of State  for 
Sports and  told him what the boy wrote; but that he Pap Saine  has dropped 
the  story.

Sources close to the Point further  indicate that the Secretary of  State for 
Sports, Mass Axi Gai later  
called the reporter Mr Ebou Manneh and  accused him of being used by  
somebody 
to undermine him 
Axi. Impeccable  sources added that he  told the young reporter that he is of 
age now because he  is 
over  56 years but did not stop there. He was said to have threatened the   
reporter as thus,” If anybody 
is trying to kill me, I will kill you,”  he  told Ebou Manneh.

Sources further revealed that the big man  later went to  the young man’s 
father to ask for mediation  
between him and the boy; that he  wants bygones to be  bygones.

Mr. Manneh who was visibly shaken by the  threat was said  to have notified 
the FA about the matter.

Information   circulating among the media practitioners speaks unkindly of 
Mr. 
Pap Saine  as  Director 
who should be the protector of all the journalists  especially the  young 
ones 
but has instead endeavored 
to put the  young man’s life and  profession under threat by his exposure of 
an  internal report which was  
dropped. They said he should have known  better than to stoop so  low.



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**************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for 
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