{"id":95272,"date":"2026-03-21T10:38:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T10:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/gambian-minister-critiques-media-councils-effectiveness"},"modified":"2026-03-21T11:36:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:36:55","slug":"gambian-minister-critiques-media-councils-effectiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambian-minister-critiques-media-councils-effectiveness","title":{"rendered":"Gambian Minister Critiques Media Council&#8217;S Effectiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong> <\/span><b>The Minister of Information, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, has sharply criticized the country\u2019s media regulator as \u201cone of the most ineffective institutions,\u201d even as he defended a proposed framework to accredit journalists.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking in an interview with West Coast Radio, Dr. Ceesay said the Gambia Media Council had failed to fulfill its mandate, prompting the government to step in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith all due respect, the Media Council is one of the most ineffective institutions this country has; they have to reform themselves,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they had done what they were supposed to do, the government wouldn\u2019t have taken this initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The minister\u2019s remarks come amid debate over a government-backed proposal to introduce a national system for press identification. Dr. Ceesay described the initiative not as a binding policy, but as a voluntary framework intended to guide accreditation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want it to be a policy because if it is a policy, it makes it binding on all journalists,\u201d he said. \u201cI want it to be a framework or a guideline, but make it voluntary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Dr. Ceesay, the proposal is designed to help distinguish professional journalists from others, particularly during protests and national emergencies, when access to restricted areas can be contentious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you know who is a journalist and who is not a journalist if there is a protest?\u201d he said. \u201cIf there is a national emergency, journalists have to get access.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that the accreditation process would not be controlled solely by the government but instead managed by a committee comprising representatives from the Media Council, the Gambia Press Union, and the Ministry of Information.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not going to be the ministry that is going to issue the press card; it is a committee composed of the Media Council, GPU, and the ministry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal has raised concerns among some journalists and media advocates, who fear it could open the door to restrictions on press freedom. Dr. Ceesay rejected those claims, insisting the government has no intention of interfering with the work of the press.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have no intention whatsoever to inhibit journalists from doing their work, to persecute them, or to censure them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He emphasized that participation in the accreditation system would remain optional. \u201cIt is going to be voluntary; it is at the discretion of the journalist to apply for a press card or not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Gambia<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. The Minister of Information, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, has sharply criticized the country\u2019s media regulator as \u201cone of the most ineffective institutions,\u201d even as he defended a proposed framework to accredit journalists. Speaking in an interview with West Coast Radio, Dr. Ceesay said the Gambia Media Council had failed to fulfill its mandate, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-95272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gambian Minister Critiques Media Council&#039;S Effectiveness - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. 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