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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