All, what on earth has gotten to some of the private houses to partake in Jammeh's corrupting of Gambians with his stolen loot? Is this a window in the minds of these journalists? How can they continue to be independent if they agree to be corrupted? Their behavior suggests that as long as the gifts from Jammeh goes to them, then it's ok. They need to be embarrassed and it is an insult to our collective intelligence for them to hide behind Ramadan for their miserly behavior. This is unbelievable!! Please read on. As media houses come under criticism Foroyaa reject Jammeh’s gift By Ebrima Jaw Manneh & Yusuf Ceesay Nov 8, 2004, 08:24 Email this article Printer friendly page Foroyaa, a bi-weekly newspaper has rejected President Jammeh’s recent donation of Ramadan gifts to media houses. Commenting on their stand, Halifa Sallah, a board member of the Foroyaa news paper said President Jammeh should have given the rice and sugar to the poor and needy and not media houses. He argued that government should have explained to the media how the gifts were acquired, quoting section 207 which states that “the media is empowered to monitor and promote the transparency and accountability for the betterment of the nation.” He accused the government of being responsible for the “extreme poverty in the country,” adding that a civil servant who receives D1,500 monthly cannot live on a kilo of meat a day. “It is better for the government if people feed themselves on a permanent basis than to give out charity,” he said. In a related development, media houses have come under strong condemnation following their acceptance of Ramadan gifts from President Jammeh on Friday. According to critics, media houses should not have accepted the gift of 160 bags of rice and sugar as it is against the moral principles of journalism. “Journalists must never take gifts. I am confused by the remarks made by Swaebou Conateh that the gifts were given in the spirit of the religion. He was trying to sugar the whole thing. If people like him who are looked on to as the doyens of Gambian journalism could just speak like that, I am surprised. All I can say is a gift is just a gift,” one critic said. Another critic who spoke to the Daily Observer said: “I am surprised that the people we call veteran journalists are using the name of Ramadan to justify their wrongs. By accepting these gifts, they have endangered the independence and neutrality of the media. They have blundered.” _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~