Hamjatta,
Easy, man. You have already concluded: "Isn't this just another bad example
of your comrades-in-arms subtly changing the journalist ethics of "getting
it right" to "getting it first?" Translation: the Independent's story does
not have facts, and therefore false. Well, it is prudent to wait for the
outcome of the trial before making sweeping statements.
You make comparism of newsworthiness between Jammeh's 'third wife' and the
peace conference involving the MFDC and the senegalese government in Banjul.
Your hullabaloo conditions you to think that the Independent should have
given more prominence to the Cassamance peace talks. This reminds me of
former foreign affairs minister Omar Sey, when he went bonkers over Daily
Observer's front page story in which Sheriff Dibba alleged that the PPP
government had overspent tax payers' money withing a short period, by over 1
billion dalasis. It happened that the story took place on the eve of a major
international business conference. By Omar Sey's reckoning, the conference
ought to have been given front page prominence not Dibba's revealations.
Well, Omar sey is no journalist; he probably didn't know what was news or
what wasn't.
Editors determine what package of information to send out to their readers.
I wasn't in The Gambia at the time of the Independent's publication of their
article under scrutiny. But my reading of the situation is that Jammeh's
'third' wife was more newsy, contiguous to the national identity than a
peace conference that held no optimism. In fact, soon after the signing of
the peace conference, heavy fighting resumed in Cassamance. To be sure, the
peace talks were important, but how many times have the combattants been to
The Gambia, working on peace formulas only to renege on them later. Can you
imagine the boredom afflicting the minds of Gambians and Senegalese on the
Cassamance situation? Moreover, the story is about a next door neighbour,
but it is foreign consumption to Gambian readers. It's always good for
newspapers to give more coverage to local than foreign news. Too much
foreign news in a local paper will consign that paper to obscurity, because
the local population will look elsewhere for news that hits close to home,
directly affecting their lives.
In fact you've already qualified the Cassamance peace talks as boring. Said
you: "Isn't the Independent just trying to sell more papers by devoting its
front paper to a gossipy trivial issue like Jammeh's 'third wife' which the
Gambian populace would prefer over TEDIUM(emphasis mine) gatherings
aforementioned?" In any case, TEDIUM means the state of being bored;
boredom. You have already qualified the peace conferences as being in a
state of boredom. So where's the news? In the peace talks or Jammeh marrying
a 'third' wife?
I understand your argument. It is unhealthy for credible newspapers to
descend into Stygian depths of Yellow Journalism. But I didn't see any of
that in the Independent's article. Reference to Bamba Laye's comments. I
need not go further than that. I am in a hurry for North Carolina.
Thanks for your comments. Bye "Mawbeh" (laugh).
Cherno Baba Jallow
Detroit, MI
>From: Hamjatta Kanteh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Pres. Jammeh V. The Independent Newspaper
>Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 06:55:20 EST
>
>Cherno,
> thanks for the lecture on hacks, what constitutes a libellous act and
>African journalism. however, you didn't say why it is important for the
>editorial board of the Indepedent to risk clampdown for such a frivolous
>and
>trivial story about Jammeh's private life. which is more important the
>epoch
>making gathering of the MFDC and the Senegalese gov't in Banjul and
>Jammeh's
>"third wife"? isn't the Independent just trying to sell more papers by
>devoting it's front paper to a gossipy trivial issue like Jammeh's "third
>wife" which the Gambian populace would prefer over tedium gatherings
>aforementioned? the other papers did get tipped about this story but held
>their nose since when it comes to it, the story was not worth the trouble
>that the Independence is facing right now. Again I repeat: is Jammeh not
>entitled to the privacy that news hounds enjoy? isn't this just another bad
>example of your "Comrades-In-Arms" subtly changing the journalist ethics of
>"getting it right" to "getting it first"? Where is your sense of fairness?
>I
>contend thus that: stories like Jammeh's "third wife" is only fit for the
>back pages and ONLY if he decides to release a statement about it. Fit for
>publication ONLY in what I would I call "The Announcement Section."
> Frivolous chit chats like Jammeh's "third wife" are only fit for the
>arena of cocktail rumour mongering, gossips, snipes and "attaya vous" not
>in
>a very good paper like the Independent. Let the Independent tackle quality
>issues (no matter how mundane) that affect the daily lives of The People
>and
>not degenerate into the standards of Tabloid sententious gung-ho. That
>should
>be the message forthcoming from comrades like you. Not the lecture on how
>difficult it is to run a paper in Africa, which is not the issue in this
>case
>of The Indepedent and Jammeh's "third wife."
>Good Morning.
>Hamjatta Kanteh
>
>hkanteh
>
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