National Media Commission to Be Inaugurated Today http://allafrica.com/stories/200306240557.html The Independent (Banjul) NEWS June 23, 2003 Posted to the web June 24, 2003 By Sb Camara Banjul The inauguration of the National Media Commission today Monday marks the issuing of a death warrant for the free press in The Gambia, according to The Independent's duo of editors who have joined other media chiefs in the country to form a chorus of dissenting voices. Despite sustained outcry from local and international media organisations over its nature, the process leading to it and its functions the Commission will be formally inaugurated at 2 pm today, causing reactions from editors of private media houses all united in their opposition to its unconstitutional bearing. One of the most salient complaints by the editors revolves around the composition and powers of the Commission, which will consist of people without an effective and working knowledge of journalism and its ethics but who will be empowered to decide the fate of journalists seen as offenders. The Independent's Managing Editor likened the inauguration of the Commission to the issuing of a death warrant for the Gambian press by a body whose constitutionality will be challenged in the courts. Alagie Yorro Jallow said that the unconstitutional nature of the Commission is not in doubt since some its working provisions run contrary to the rule of law and democracy. He said it is profoundly disappointing that a member of the Bar Association, who should challenge unconstitutionality anywhere it surfaces, would be an accomplice in "killing freedom of the press and in effect freedom of expression in The Gambia". The paper's Editor-in-Chief Abdoulie Sey pointed out that "journalists would not take their place in the Commission because we do not want to be part of the travesty of justice and an unwholesome history for which posterity will find us accountable". He said it was offensive mockery to any Gambian journalist worth his (or her) that after the media were excluded from the process leading to its establishment, which was riddled with potential flaws, "we were being invited to take our seat, not as stakeholders but as spectators to the smothering of journalists". "The lack of consultation and transparency and the consequent exclusion of media stakeholders in the process leading to its establishment supposedly for our own sake makes it very reprehensible. Gambian journalists especially those in the private media are singing from the same hymn sheet, which in effect is that we all opposed to the Commission. Was it correct to exclude journalists from the process leading to it when by and large it concerns their profession and them? This is one of the most ridiculous things about the Commission and leaves us justified in our suspicion that our death warrant as a media was being signed" Mr. Sey charged. He indicated that the government's insistence with such a Commission reflects its lack of an open-door policy of consultation and the will for compromise with the media particularly the private press. Baba Galleh Jallow also of The Independent was equally livid. "The inauguration of the media commission is a blatant and evil act of injustice and immorality. No decent Gambian should be a member of this unjust organ. Those who accept membership of this commission for money and prestige should know that they will go down the annals of history as people who allowed themselves to be used as instruments of naked injustice, repression and tyranny. They should remember that all truth, all justice and all power belongs to God," he charged. Stating the position of The Gambia Press Union, its chairman D.A Jawo said the body is opposed to such a Commission, whose unconstitutionality makes it untenable. "We entertain reservation for some of its provisions, which will have a negative effect on the private media, instead of ensuring its independence, impartiality and professionalism as provided for in the state constitution" he argued. Deyda Hydara, the Editor-in-Chief of the Point also raised strong objections to what he called "the unacceptable powers" delegated to the Commission. "It is unfortunate that despite all calls for sanity, all the persuasions regarding these obnoxious laws the government is going ahead with plans to set up the Commission. This is the bane of our confrontation with the government," he pointed out. According to the media veteran the Commission violates a host of constitutional provisions, a fact, which they as journalists intend to challenge in the courts. Mr. Hydara believes that such a Commission should have been a professional body of journalists and communicators, "not laymen illegally empowered to sentence journalists to jail terms and other heavy fines, which no journalist worth his salt would accept". For Foroyaa's Sam Sillah, the threat on freedom of the press in the Gambia is a foregone conclusion. He said the act is a bad law, which would not facilitate freedom of expression. "On the other hand what is expected under the present circumstance is a Commission which will facilitate the training of media personnel contrary to what we are seeing which is like a court of law with lots of powers to impose penalties, fines and jail terms for journalists which in effect will scare a lot of journalists or prevent them from handling their work freely without pressure from the Commission" he posited. Other media pundits also made similar observations, concluding that a Commission of such a nature would not bode well for the free press. One such pundit speaking in anonymity criticized the Commission, which he described as discriminatory as far as the private and public media in the country were concerned. Meanwhile other media chiefs like Radio 1 FM's George Christensen and the News and Report's Magazine editor Swaebou Conateh said they were reserving their comments over the Commission until after its inauguration, later today at the Department of State for Information, Communication and Technology. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2003 The Independent. All rights reserved. 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