Courtesy of the Daily Observer

___________________________________________

Tuesday, November 28, 2000

BUBA BALDEH IS NEW OBSERVER MD
- VOWS TO UPHOLD EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE

The former PPP minister for Youths, Sports and Culture, now deputy national
mobiliser of the APRC, Buba Baldeh, has been appointed managing director of
the Observer Company with effect from November 24.

Mr Baldeh, who called at the Daily Observer officers yesterday afternoon to
announce his new appointment, replaces Sarriang Ceesay. Mr Ceesay has been
on vacation in the United States for the past two months. Unconfirmed
sources said Mr Ceesay, who is expected in Banjul early next week, may land
a job in the Gambia civil service.

Sarriang Ceesay was the director general of Customs and Excise and later ran
a private consultancy before heading the Observer Company in May 1999
following the acquisition of the company by tycoon, Amadou Samba. In an
interview shortly after he visited various departments of the company
yesterday afternoon, Mr Baldeh affirmed his allegiance to Amadou Samba and
said he will "live up to expectations".

Mr Baldeh denied his appointment was a calculated move to blunt the
objective edge of the newspaper by some interested groups in the APRC party.
"I am not aware of any APRC clique in the first instance and the paper does
not belong to the APRC.

This paper belongs to Mr Amadou Samba, who is my employer and therefore, I
can only say my allegiance is to the company, to the paper and to the
proprietor." The proprietor of Observer Company, Amadou Samba, is viewed in
many quarters as a close associate of President Yahya Jammeh.

Editorial independence
Mr Baldeh promised that he will not interfere with the editorial
independence of the Daily Observer. "That is absolutely vital if we are to
march forward. My new appointment is a big challenge, but I promise to live
up to expectations.

Certainly, I have no journalistic experience as such, but in my capacity as
managing director, I do not have to be a journalist as such. I have been an
administrator all my life. I have headed several government and other
institutions in this country. My job here as managing director is, far
different from that of editor-in-chief or other journalists. My business
will purely be that of management and facilitating and creating the right
environment for all the various departments in this company function to the
satisfaction of all Gambians, and certainly, the proprietor." Mr Baldeh
recalled that when Amadou Samba bought the Observer in 1999, "there were a
lot speculations.

Mr Samba is a friend to the APRC, et cetera, et cetera. But this speculation
will be laid to rest very soon. Daily Observer will continue with its
balance reporting without fear or favour. My connections with the APRC,
which is as a result of my own political convictions, has got nothing to do
with the independence of the Observer, particularly the editorial section of
the paper. It is a newspaper and therefore all the stories will be carried
in it like any newspaper in this country. The foundation of good work that
has been done by my predecessor, Sarriang Ceesay, will be built upon.

I am a supporter of President Yahya Jammeh but I have no intention, let me
repeat this, I have no intention whatsoever, of interfering in the editorial
set-up of this company. In the event that there are complaints from the
public or from anybody over articles, over stories, I am sure those
complaints will be looked into.

I can say that the policy that has been here since Mr Samba took over, that
policy has to stay." Mr Baldeh added, "Despite the speculations and
criticisms, the Observer still has the largest circulation. It is the
biggest newspaper company. It's well organised and both the permanent staff
and those on freelance are doing an excellent job."

Priorities
Commenting on his new priorities, Mr Baldeh said he would maintain the
credibility of the paper and that he would embark on an aggressive marketing
campaign so that the paper can generate revenue. He promised to promote the
staff based on merits, especially those staff who are hard-working.




_____________________________________________________________________________________
Get more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------