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Subject:	Stop the AllGambian Yellow Journalism
From:	Ebou Jallow <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:	The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Date:	Sun, 2 Oct 2005 16:40:02 -0700
Content-Type:	text/plain
Parts/Attachments:	text/plain (67 lines)

Essa Sey,

Professionalism, integrity and civility are definitely not amongst the list of your accolades over there at your website. How dare you "kill" someones father, brother and husband ? How dare you trespass into an individuals privacy without his consent?
A real journalist should resist the urge to repeat rumors much more become the very agent of rumor-mongering. This is simply obscene and you guys ought to apologize to Mr Mbye and his family.
Essa, I know that you are crazy but I doubt whether you are capable of ever going this low. You need to talk to those fools in your group to exercise some restraint. Their recent actions are definitely unbecoming of a Gambian.

Regards to Neeneh and family.

Ebou Jallow

Last-Card <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
EDITORIALTHE SAINEY MBYE DEATH RUMOUR FINALLY LAID TO REST
Octoger 2, 2005
Ruling APRC newly elected MP Sainey Mbye is alive according to our reporter Yero Jallow who spoke to him today on the line to Banjul. Mr. Mbye who was said to have died as a result of a snake bite has cleared the air by dispelling such rumours as untrue and unfounded.

The irony here is that, Sainey Mbye himself could not say who pioneered such rumours against him. He however confirmed hearing such wild rumours which hit Banjul and its surrounding towns and villages.

We are pleased to hear that the man is alive and is going on his normal life. It is unGambian for anyone to wish death to his fellow citizen. We at The ALLGAMBIAN went all out to reach Mbye's immediate family who earlier denied the story. We were left with the option of publishing the news as we heard it and avoid being sensational. After all, what good will it earn us to wish death to an honourable Member of Parliament? It is totally ridiculous and unfounded for anyone to try to politicise this issue. Let us address the issues and avoid making unsubstantiated charges.

Anybody who read between the lines will know that we did what was expected of us as journalists. We are not bothered by some irresponsible comments made by certain individuals claiming to be Yahya Jammeh's supporters who thought that we have an interest in publishing such a story. We have nothing against Sainey Mbye and his family. Let such individuals go ahead with their misinformation campaign. We are a credible media organisation, striving to exceed our readers expectations. In doing so, we are mindful about what we report and its impact on our country. The national interest overrides the interest of few misguided APRC sycophants bent on pleasing Jammeh or seek political favours from him.

We at The ALLGAMBIAN will continue to strive for accuracy in our day to day reportage of events in The Gambia. The mere fact that our reporter was determined to hear from the man believed to be death goes to show that we have nothing against him and his family. The mere fact that The Gambian government today issued a statement to clarify the current state of affairs on the health status of Sainey Mbye goes to show that the said rumour was rife in Banjul. We are vindicated. This will prove to all and sundry that we never invented the news on MP Sainey Mbye's death. It was a wild rumour, which Sainey Mbye himself never denied. The rest will now be decided by our readers.

The best way to tackle rumours is transparency and accountability. When governments are open to their citizens, there will be less rumours and speculations. In the case of the Gambia this is not the situation. The Jammeh government is not accountable to its citizens. It withholds information, which certainly will give room to unnecessary rumours and speculations.

It is imperative to note, our news medium will not be over carried by such rumours or speculations. We pursue the truth and nothing but the truth. Let this be known to our detractors trying to apportion blame to us for merely reporting the alleged death of MP Sainey Mbye. As indicated in our yesterday's editors note, we believe that The Gambian public reserves the right to know what is happening to their MP. This right cannot be violated by us here at The ALLGAMBIAN. We are here to serve our readers and not an institution or any political grouping so to speak. We will continue to report news items without fear or favour.

As journalists we are aware of the fact that certain individual(s) might have ulterior motives about information given to the press. But such information are thoroughly scrutinised here at The ALLGAMBIAN before publishing them. We try independent confirmation to such stories given to us by our usual reliable and trustable sources. We must say that we valued our sources, but it is incumbent upon us to cross check some of the news tips we received on a daily bases. We rest our case.

The author is the former Secretary General of The Gambia press Union and also a former Voice of America radio Banjul Correspondent. Mr. M'Bai who now resides in the US State of North Carolina Raleigh was a leading political and crime reporter with the Point and Daily Observer newspapers respectively. He can be reached by email at the following addresses: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]

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