Good News For The Gambian Media
- Daily Observer

The credit for the very positive news that Government is to repeal the Media
Commission Act goes to the dynamic SoS for Information, Communication and
Technology, Dr Amadou Scattred Janneh.

Since he assumed office, Dr Janneh has consistently tried to mediate between
the independent media and government. Thanks to his timely intervention,
government climbed down from its hard line position to allow for a three
month grace period to allow time for more consultation between the press and
government.

No doubt this cooling period helped to break the impasse.
Now, Gambian democracy has been given a shot in the arm by the decision of
government to repeal the draconian Media Act.

The Media Act could not have done any good for the advancement of Gambian
democracy; it could have only taken us several steps backwards in our
democratic process. Press freedom, which is the cornerstone of democracy,
was under direct assault by the Media Act, which required journalists and
media houses to register with a Commission among several other unnecessary
regulations. The Commission also had extensive powers to prosecute
journalists.

The Gambian private press is indeed very responsible. Our journalists are
hardly sensational nor rabble rousing. This is why the Gambia Press Union
should be fully equiped to be the watch dog of the media.

The Gambia Press Union too deserves commendation for its steadfast stand on
the issue. However, it should now task itself to put in in house measures to
watch over the conduct of journalists and proprietors.

Dr Janneh has managed to extricate our country from a potentially very
embarassing situation where the entire private press would have closed shop
if the Act was allowed to stay.

Dr Janneh has our commendation for his very patriotic effort. This shows
that for now we have a secretary of state who is a staunch defender of
freedom of speech, which is indeed gratifying. The press should continue to
be responsible and patriotic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~