Tombong,

Will you please read again what you have written below, and extricate the
contradictions and didacticism and repost it. And don't forget to expound on the
Executive importance of Yaya Jammeh going to "Mary's Food & Wine" Supermarket.

Sloans
_______________________________________________________________________
"If you want to read or hear good things about Yaya, go read the Observer or
listen to GRTS".
KB Dampha
----- Original Message -----
From: TOMBONG SAIDY <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 15:40
Subject: Fair Media Access


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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