Africa-Press – Gambia. The Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Dr Ismaila Ceesay, has said that The Gambia currently enjoys an unprecedented level of media freedom, asserting that no media environment is freer than that of the country today.
Speaking in an interview with West Coast Radio, Dr Ceesay said journalists in The Gambia are no longer prosecuted for carrying out their professional duties, marking a significant departure from the past.
“Since President Barrow came to power, I have never seen a freer media in any country I have traveled even in the first world. We have more freedoms than the UK so far as the media is concerned,” he stated.
Dr Ceesay noted that the present media landscape stands in stark contrast to previous administrations, during which journalists were frequently subjected to arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, threats, and harassment.
“No journalist has been jailed in this country for doing his or her job. That is a huge difference compared to 10, 15 years ago, when journalists were either arbitrarily arrested, forcefully disappeared or jailed, or tortured that was the norm in this country,” Dr. Ceesay said.
He further explained that while The Gambia has enacted progressive laws to protect journalists and media institutions, there are necessary safeguards to ensure responsible and ethical reporting.
“There are a few laws that can be seen as not media-friendly but these laws are not simply removed, you reform them and put safeguards in place. The media has to be held accountable for their actions while doing their job,” he said.
He added that freedom of the media must go hand in hand with responsibility and accountability, stressing that no country operates a media sector without regulatory safeguards.
“No country allows a media sector where there are no safeguards, the media must be free but it must also be responsible, accountability is part of freedom. Hardly do you hear about human rights violations made against citizens by the state today in present-day Gambia,” he said.
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