"There is an unfair advantage that incumbents enjoy in every
country, the US included. These are realities we have to accept."

Tombong:

You are absolutdely right that the Presidency is the nerve center, and needs to be covered. It is not the
coverage that people have a problem with, but going after Big stories truthfully, fairly and what is in the
interest of the country. The above statement about the importance of incumbency, but does not insulate them
from critical reporting and going after the true stories, even if it brings down a government...(Nixon).

Yes Sir, you can very well give enough coverage to the executive, but do it with true journalistic principles
and the interest of the country  as your only guideline. And to even infer  that, this is whats happening in
the Gambia would be disingenuous at best


Musa Jeng
TOMBONG SAIDY wrote:

> GRTS is owned by all Gambians and does not belong to President, Tombong
> Saidy or any particular Gambian for that matter. It is the Public
> Broadcasting institution of The Gambia, similar to the PBS in the US or BBC
> in the UK.
>
> GRTS is not bias against any individual or group of individuals. People
> often accuse us of all sorts of things, but one need to understand that GRTS
> is the public media and should therefore behave responsibly.
>
> One mistake that most people make is to fail to differentiate between Yahya
> Jammeh as the elected President of The Gambia and Yahya Jammeh as the Leader
> of the APRC. We cover the Executive, The President, and not the APRC. APRC
> is the ruling party, just as the Republican Party in the US is now the
> ruling party.
>
> GRTS would cover all activities of the President whether it is Jammeh or any
> other president. Those of you in the US, how many times have you seen Dole
> on television after his defeat? Those in the UK, how many of you even
> remember the name of the opponent of Prime Minister Tony Blair during the
> last elections? The point is, the President of The Gambia should be
> adequately covered by the media, GRTS in particularly. When President Jammeh
> goes to the Supermarket, it is news worthy. When any opposition leader goes
> to the Supermarket, it is not news worthy. It is as simple as that. All
> branches of Government are being covered and we will cover the Secretaries
> of State as well. Some official activities of the Secretaries of States are
> also covered adequately.
>
> When the Budget is delivered to the National Assembly for example, we make
> sure that we have the reactions of the opposition members and we carry it
> live without editing it or even attempting to edit it. We do the same
> whenever the President addresses the National Assembly (State Opening of the
> National Assembly, equivalent to the State of The Union Address by the US
> President).
>
> When President Jammeh travels, GRTS would cover him adequately. The
> constitution requires the President to make at least one annual tour of
> country, Meet the People Tour and GRTS would cover the tour and broadcast it
> for all Gambians with access to radio and television to see or hear. When it
> is time for campaign, like this up coming by-elections, all candidates and
> political parties will be given equal airtime. We have already met with the
> IEC on this and our internal guidelines would be publicised soon. Check CNN,
> CBS, ABC or any American Media House and see for your self how much coverage
> the President has on weekly basis. All major media houses in the US have a
> permanent representative at the White House and they cover the daily
> activities of the President. I do not see any thing wrong with GRTS doing
> it. The Presidency is the nerve centre of the country and has to be covered
> and we will continue covering the President's activities without apologies.
>
> We do cover political rallies of both the ruling party and opposition
> parties. We have a policy whereby organisations, institutions, Departments
> etc should give us at least one week notice for their activities, especially
> those being held in the provinces. For the Greater Banjul area, if we have
> 48 to 72 hours, we normally try and cover. And this applies to all political
> parties as well. As a matter of we did cover more than 90% of the requests
> from the political parties. We request for an advance notices so that we can
> plan properly. We have limited resources, both manpower and material. All
> political parties have to do is to inform us in advance and we will do our
> very best to cover them.
>
> Karamba, you do not have to wait a new government to lobby for GRTS to be
> independent. GRTS is already independent and the bill will be presented to
> the National Assembly this year to formalise it. We have been independent
> from GAMTEL since January 1st 2001 and now we have our own Board of
> Directors and we are expected to sustain our self financially. Government is
> contributing D2.5 million per annum, and GRTS is expected to generate D6
> million and the Parastatals will be contributing as well and their
> contribution will be turn in to equity when GRTS becomes profitable.
>
> As far as GRTS Management is concerned, all Gambians are equal and would be
> treated the same. Be rest assured that the coming elections would be covered
> adequately and all candidates and political parties would be given equal
> access to GRTS. There is an unfair advantage that incumbents enjoy in every
> country, the US included. These are realities we have to accept.
>
> PEACE
>
> Tombong
>
> _________________________________________________________________________
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