Gambian Media Tightens its Tentacles Ahead of Presidential Elections

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DCAF Successfully Concludes Training on Election Reporting for Thirty Gambian Journalists

 

By Sheriff Saidykhan

 

The Geneva Centre for Security Governance (DCAF) in partnership with Gambia Press Union (GPU), through the support of the European Union (EU), on Friday 19 November 2021 completed a five days intensive training for thirty Gambia media practitioners across different media outlets. The training was held at National Nutrition Agency (NANA), along the Bertil Harding Highway.

 

The training dubbed: ‘The Role of Media in Monitoring and Objective Reporting on Election and Security’ among other things, gave journalists the opportunity to interact, share experiences and better understand the safety and security considerations associated with in elections reporting.  

 

Ken Isaac, Head of DCAF office in Banjul spoke of their determination to continue to support capacity building of Gambian journalists and media practitioners.

 

Muhammad S. Bah, President-elect of Gambia Press Union, speaking at the closing ceremony of the training, applauded the donor partners for their support to members of the media fraternity saying: “absolutely this training is very good. I believe it will help strengthen the understanding of journalists”. The significance of objective, and fair election reporting he states, forms a vital part of good journalism. Bah urged that, journalists should ensure that their newly acquired knowledge is effectively utilised in their reporting. Especially, the ethical aspect of it, in order to make sure that whatever is reported is the truth, reported in good faith he emphasised.

 

Bah also further urged the donor partners to consider organising training for reporting on security related issues saying: “I am urging DCAF to support more Gambian journalists. I will recommend DCAF to probably have reporting grant, you can look into that for journalists to do security sector reporting” he concluded. 

 

At the climax of the training participants were awarded their certificates of participation.

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