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Momodou
Denmark
11738 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Sep 2012 : 12:38:38
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The Daily News Ordered to Stop Publication
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11738 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2012 : 12:41:54
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Two newspapers ordered to cease operations?
The Point: Published on Monday, September 17, 2012Two leading private newspapers have been ordered to cease operations with effect from Friday, The Point has reliably learnt.
The Standard, a daily paper and The Daily News, a thrice-weekly newspaper were informed by officers in plainclothes who visited their offices that it was an “executive order” for them to cease operations.
The move, seen as a big blow by the entire Gambian media fraternity, comes less than a month after Taranga FM, a leading commercial radio station based in Sinchu Alagie village in the West Coast Region, was also ordered to cease operations.
In a statement issued yesterday, the management of The Daily News stated that the paper on Friday September 14 received alleged orders from the Office of the President to cease publication with immediate effect.
“Three suspected plain-clothes officers of the NIA that morning walked into our offices, purportedly from the office of the country’s chief executive, with the said presidential directive, which was delivered verbally by the men,” the paper said.
Noting that the The Daily News is not privileged to any finer details of the alleged presidential directive, the newspaper said the paper was told by the men to make enquiries with the Office of the President for details.
“The position taken by the management of The Daily News following an emergency meeting was that: the informal and unofficial manner in which the alleged presidential directive was issued was unacceptable and unconstitutional; efforts would be made to confirm the veracity of the alleged presidential directive,” it said.
It added that the publication of the paper will suffer setback to enable the management to take care of certain internal issues.
This, it said, is expected to last less than a week and publication continues afterwards, “regardless of whether the alleged presidential directive stands.”
When contacted, Sheriff Bojang, Managing Editor of The Standard, confirmed receiving the order for the newspaper to cease publication, and that he would take up the matter with the authorities.
Source: The Point
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12312 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2012 : 13:13:29
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Hardly surprising,the Daily News newspaper have been testing the boundaries of "accepted" media activity in Gambia for some time,"the authorities" have decided that limits have now been reached and the newspaper should now close.I know nothing about The Standard newspaper.
I find it interesting that , "officers in plainclothes who visited their offices ", any finer details of the alleged presidential directive, the newspaper said the paper was told by the men to make enquiries with the Office of the President for details."
This would indicate to me that there is room for "clarification" ( a new and now accepted buzzword in Gambian politics ) of the “executive order”.
"When contacted, Sheriff Bojang, Managing Editor of The Standard, confirmed receiving the order for the newspaper to cease publication, and that he would take up the matter with the authorities."
This matter has not been finalised yet but different methods of doing things appear to have taken place and talk MAYBE the different method selected by " "the authorities"
Lets await developments on this in the next weeks. |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Edited by - toubab1020 on 17 Sep 2012 13:19:52 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
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toubab1020
12312 Posts |
Posted - 19 Sep 2012 : 19:01:15
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Yesterday 18th,the body of The Daily News website was there, but stories could not be accessed,however today you could read the stories but they were dated 18th and not 19th,the question has to be asked,is the paper complying with the Executive directive closing the paper? OR has some "mistake" been made through a breakdown in communication between different departments of the administration,resulting in confusion as to what should be done in relation to the visit that the paper experienced by unidentified men which lead it to believe that the paper had been told to close.
To use the Gambian buzzword, "clarification" needed. |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Momodou
Denmark
11738 Posts |
Posted - 19 Sep 2012 : 20:40:35
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Why We Refuse to Bow
The Daily News Editorial: Published on Monday, September 17, 2012
 On Friday 14, three suspected plain-clothes officers of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) walked into the offices of The Daily News led by a man who identified himself as Modou Ceesay. They purportedly came from the Office of the President. Their mission was to relay a directive from the office of the chief executive of the country that this invaluable newspaper should cease operations with immediate effect.
But what on earth has a reliable and factual newspaper like ours done to warrant such a rather arbitrary decision? How can the Office of the President do that? What is the justification? What are the rest of the details of this directive?
Unfortunately, the three men who walked into our office were messengers with very little message. ‘The directive is that you should cease operations and if you need to make any further enquiries, contact the Office of the President.’ This was all they were told to tell us. But how could any institution that calls itself government of state in this modern era operate like this!
In fact, experience has shown us that directives like these are commonplace in the country. Taranga FM is still off air, a little less than one month after security agents stormed that premises. Sud FM, Citizen FM, New Citizen and Independent newspapers are defunct, if not dead due to a similar order. The list goes on and on.
And for many reasons, lawful and others, The Daily News refuses to bow. It is not clear to us whether those who walked into our offices that Friday morning were in fact impersonators. Indeed, they claimed to be sent by the Office of the President, but they failed to provide any proofs. Not even an identification was shown!
Moreover, The Daily News did follow proper procedures before it started publications. It is a legally registered privately-owned Gambian newspaper company that has been licensed by the Attorney General to operate. All formalities and even informalities regarding the conditions for the operations of the paper had been sorted out before the paper hit the newsstands on April 6, 2009.
Since then, the paper has been true to its editorial principles. Our audience, or the public at large, have appreciated this work. Therefore, if the Gambian authorities decided that the paper be closed down, it only proper to advance reasons - justified ones for that matter. And this is not to be delivered verbally, or as if in an eighteen century tribal chiefdom where the chief’s message is carried by the town crier.
Furthermore, there are laws that govern the operations of the press in the country. Sections 25 and 207 are relevant legal provisions in the constitution that give ironclad guarantee to our rights to make publications. Suffice to say that The Gambia has committed itself to allowing the independent press to flourish through a number of regional and international protocols and conventions.
Matter of fact, at this point, it is quite unnecessary for us to launch into all those legal arguments to justify our decision to go ahead with publications or condemn the actions of the state authorities. What we want the government and the public at large to understand is that this paper, published today, is not because we are by any means showing defiance. We feel that we are not convinced enough to cease operations, temporally or permanently. And that by any standard, due process for the closure of a registered newspaper company has not been followed. The authorities should not be told what the due process is.
Author: Dailynews |
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