Let's get together, says GPU administrator.

Cherno Jallow, administrator of the Gambia Press Union, has said it is time for media executives to come closer together to address common problems and constraints. Mr. Jallow was speaking on Monday when he and a GPU delegation called on the Director of Information, Ebrima Cole, and senior management of the Government Information Services. During the visit, Mr. Jallow briefed the Director on GPU programmes. He said the union exists to serve all The Gambia's journalists and wants its programmes to be 'the property of all'. He said he was happy with the current state of relationships, and remarked that the GPU has in the past included members of the public media in all its training sessions.

Mr. Jallow explained that union officials embarked on visiting heads of media institutions on 14th January, and will be doing so in January of each year.

They are visiting 16 media houses.

'FAMILY' VISIT

The GPU's chairman, Demba Jawo, described the vist as a 'family' affair.

Ebrima Sillah, a member of the GPU's executive, pointed out that the public media employ experienced journalists and that from now on, the union wants to bank on their support.

TRAINING NEEDS

The Director of Information expressed his appreciation of the visit, saying that it was the first since the union's inception. He declared that the GPU and his Department both serve the public interest.

Mr. Cole said he was particularly interested in training, and welcomed the emphasis the GPU attaches to it, which the union's chairman also recently stressed, as reported in the papers.

He assured the GPU of his Department's support in this direction.

Mr. Cole said he was aware of GPU's proposals to Unesco for help in seting up a media training centre in The Gambia, and he reiterated the need for effective training for local journalists, facilitating the recruitment of staff.

Mr. Cole further said that in the current world dispensation donors now tend to to direct training assistance through the GPU, and he appealed to the GPU executive to remember those working in the public media are also Gambians.

Mr. Jawo said that public media will continue to benefit from the GPU training programmes, just as Gambia Daily staff have benefited in the past.

But training is expensive, he added, and the GPU does not have the necessary resources. He hoped that the donors will respond to the GPU's call for assistance.

There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve. -Mike- Levitt-