From:"DIDA HALAKE" <[log in to unmask]>  Add to Address BookTo:[log in to unmask]:Negative Stories & Daily Observer's ResponsibilityDate:Sun, 13 Jun 2004 11:50:07 +0000 [input]   [input]   [input]   [input]

Abdou,



Please post this letter on Gambia-L for me. Many thanks.



Dear Editor of Daily Observer,



A few days ago I wrote to Sheriff Bojang of my delight at seeing an enlightened and balanced “Opinion” in the Daily Observer on the ethics and practice of journalism by Chief Manneh. By this weekend I was mighty disappointed to see an awful story, “Man Makes Love to Donkey”, sent all over the world by the Daily Observer.



Surely, of what public value is the publicity given to the deranged act of one man who obviously belongs in a mental hospital? Do Gambians want to read this kind of nonsense in the only daily newspaper in the country? Is it fair to besmirch the reputation of the country because of one deranged man’s act of madness?



As you know, I have personally written many pages in the Daily Observer and in British papers promoting The Gambia to the outside world. You will remember some of my stories such as “Gambia and the African Diaspora”, “Alex Haley’s Roots”, etc. I take five minutes out of my lectures all over the UK to encourage people to visit The Gambia. My website is thoroughly positive about The Gambia and my teacher-colleagues and pupils who have seen it want to visit The Gambia. This December, 20 British youngsters, who have raised the money themselves, will be coming to The Gambia to starting building a library for a senior secondary school which hasn’t got a library. In July 2005, another 30 British youngsters are coming to The Gambia to build a Madrassa and English Language Classroom in a village. You may recall my equally positive interview of Gambia Experience’s Stephen Wylde. If you look at the Gambia Experience website you will see that they are using that interview to sell the Gambia to
 tourists. People choose to visit The Gambia because they have a positive image of the country. But …



What does it say to the wider world about The Gambia when people read of  “man making love to donkey”, “man accused of penis snatching”, “woman throws baby in well”, “child in ritual killing”, “old Brit has sex with 20 girls”, etc, etc. Of course, you have a right to choose your editorial priorities, but in the past twelve months people abroad will have read more about paedophilia in The Gambia than anything else about this wonderful country and its people. During the world’s most co-ordinated demonstration ever, against Iraq war in February 2003, the whole world saw the demonstration as the lead story. But not the Daily Observer. My coverage was the main headline in Zimbabwe’s Daily News, but Gambia’s Daily Observer chose a screaming headline on paedophilia arrests in the country even though the most serious charge in those arrests has result in an acquittal.



I am not talking of censorship here, but of responsibility – as outlined in your pages this week by Chief Manneh. Even the Independent this week advised Gambians to think twice before they jump into the dangerous waters of tribalism and religion. The image of a country like The Gambia, which depends so much on visitors to the country, is equally important. In the past, I have had long discussions with Daily Observer’s then Editor-in-Chief/MD Sheriff Bojang, and his then boss Baba Jobe, about the negative content in the country’s only national daily, especially in the Week-End Observer. The answer I got was that those silly stories are what sell the paper locally, and anyway as a “foreigner” I wouldn’t understand  – the “foreigner” charge was from Baba’s “boy boy”. So be it, if such stories are what the Daily Observer’s local readers want. But, does the Daily Observer need to publish such stories on the internet for the whole world to see and sneer?



Yours sincerely,

Dida Halake, Kotu and UK.







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