>From:<[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
Good Day Gassama and Happy New Year
I beg to contribute in this exchange about the media.
In saw your response to Ebrima Sillah whom I commend for coming out very
adequately to straighten the records as far as the situation of the media is
concerned. I need not come back to the points he had already elaborated.
must commend Ebrima who began his journalistic career with The Point
newspaper and we are proud of his dexterity in the job. As he rightly said
all the newspapers save The Independent were in existence in the First
Republic. The increase in the private media scene can only be seen in the
electronic media namely with the advent of public TV, West Coast Radio, Sud
FM and City Limit Radio.
He was also right with regards to Decree 70/71, which is far from favouring
a press freedom climate in the country. Instead as the Daily Observer
constantly remind us it is a Damocles sword hanging over the existence of
newspapers. You asked why it was not used against us. That question should
be addressed to the powers that be not us. But we can assure that we know
why.
We also have the Media Commission whose provisions were doctored following
the contribution of the GPU to suit its repressive outlook.
You also asked about the number of journalists who had suffered in the hands
of the old regime.
If my memory serves me right, Mr. Ba Trawally was unfortunately tried for an
article he wrote in the 70s about the farm of Barajally and was convicted to
five years imprisonment.
Mr. Trawally won the enviable title of the first Gambian journalist jailed
in this country since independence.
In 1980, late Dixon Colley was tried for an article dubbed Till Dooms day.
But he left the court a free man.
Baboucarr Gaye was also detained for interviewing Kukoi at Radio Gambia the
day of the coup which for us journalists deserved a Prize and not detention.
Sana Manneh won his case against the ministers he labelled as corrupt in The
Torch. The appeal did not yield any change and Manneh went home a free man.
I was detained by the NSS and all the big men of the service then
interrogated me for hours and released me afterwards. I also had the
pleasure of re-experiencing the same treatment in March 1995 with the NIA
which makes me the only journalist in this country detained and interrogated
by our two security agencies something which am very proud of as it
demonstrates our consistency. We are for the Gambian people.
As Ebrima and all of us made abundantly clear on various instances locally,
the two situations are not comparable; we had a civilian regime with its
democratic outlook and a transitional military government that relied on a
state of siege to silence its critics. The Second Republic inherited that
anti-press posture and we suffered and continue to suffer from it.
Now, on taxes. I am surprised to 'hear' you say other businesses are paying
more taxes than the media.
Compare what is comparable!
How could you compare media houses with 'normal' businesses; ours is a semi-
social and semi- business occupation and that must be taken into
consideration. The services we render to both the people and the government
are not paid for; they are free of charge as a result of an empowerment
granted us by the very Constitution of the Republic. In other countries like
Senegal, Parliament votes an annual subvention of D 100, 000 to each
private media house to help strengthen the enlightenment process carried out
by the media.
Therefore, we are no businesses. And in fact, in the First Republic
newspaper taxation was unheard of.
I hope these few lines have answered your questions.
Thank you for your attention
>From: Jungle Sunrise <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: The Gambia Giant strides /Gassa My Take
>Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 10:56:15 +0000
>
>Mr. Sillah,
>
>Thank you for joining the ongoing debate about the freedom of the press
>during the past 7 years as compared to yester-years. I for one will never
>deny that there had been problems between the present government and the
>"private" media. My emphasis during this debate will be mainly on the
>"Private" media as the public media during the first republic was virtually
>non-existent and therefore not worth comparing and contrasting with what
>prevails as of now.
>
>Having said that, I would like to tell you why I believe that the private
>media enjoys more freedom now than ever before. However before going into
>that, I would like to ask you whether you are telling me that the
>government
>printer is prohibited from printing for the private media. I am very much
>interested in knowing about that as well as from when it had been
>prohibited
>from printing for the private press.
>
>Mr. Sillah, the fact that people like you are risking your security and
>reporting the news as you see fit, despite all the alleged harassment, is
>clear testimony to the development of the private media during the past
>seven years. Unless you are in denial, you will agree with me that some of
>the articles being published today would have landed many a journalist in
>jail for duriing the PPP era. Secondly, Mr. Sillah, do not mis-construe my
>stance about what ensues as condoning whatever may have been wrongly done
>to
>some of you. All I am saying is that what generally goes around comes
>around. You will not tell me that those who took you to the NIA or
>interogated you are not Gambians or were they non-Gambians? Fact of the
>matter is, it takes two to tango. It is very easy to blame the government
>and conveniently forget that some of us are inherently wicked and are
>capable of anything and at the same time there are others who want to
>insist
>on their way as the only way. That brings about unnecessary confrontation.
>Another thing is that decree 70/71 that some of you so much detest has
>never
>dettered any of you and thus has so far not been used against any media
>house at least punitively to my knowledge or am I wrong in that assertion?
>
>As for the heavy taxes, all I can say is that our economy has been and is
>still tax based and as such heavy taxation is a part of our life at least
>for now. As to how it has specifically affected the private media, my guess
>is that it has not significantly affected the circulation of the print
>media
>nor the viability of the audio media or has it? Please tell us more about
>this heavy taxation to enable me comment on it. I know for a fact that
>certain items and businesses are equally if not more heavily taxed and
>these
>businesses are not media related. Therefore taxation cannot be used as
>proof
>of harassment of the private media.
>
>Thirdly, Mr. Sillah, I am someone who happens to believe that when
>paradigms
>shift everything goees to zero. I have also learnt, long ago, that
>possitive
>engagement has a better chance of solving problems or mis-understandings
>than confrontation. You see; what some of you fail to realise is that none
>of the things that some of you proclaim to want to see in The Gambia cannot
>come to fruition unless there is stability and law and order. You gave some
>statistics of the number arrests of journalists during the 32 year PPP
>reign
>and the seven year AFPRC/APRC reign but failed to give us certain important
>factors such as the number of media houses during the respective periods,
>the awareness of the public as well as the population. Whereas you gave us
>some idea of who the victims of these arrests during the past seven years
>are and the number of times most were arrested, you failed to do the same
>for those 15 arrests during the 32 year year PPP regime. You told us that
>about 13 of you accounted for the 35 arrests during the past seven years;
>can you enlighten us as to who accounted for the 15 arrests during the past
>PPP regime? Do you remember the late Femi Jeng who died in police custody
>during the PPP regime simply because he happened to be on duty during
>Kukoi's failed coupe attempt and was used by the rebels?
>
>Finally, Mr. Sillah, all that I am saying is that we all have different
>priorities. As far as I am concerned the abject poverty, ill health and
>ignorance in our midst is more of a priority than the utopian state that
>some of you believe we can attain while we are this poor. I do not also
>usually want to comment on individual cases especially when the individuals
>concerned are not at liberty or are unavailable to respond to how I
>percieve
>their cases. As such, I don't want to comment on the citizen FM case or the
>attempted arson of Radio One FM unless you are at liberty to tell me more
>about them.
>
>Have a good day, Gassa.
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com
>
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