{"id":96021,"date":"2026-04-15T10:39:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:08:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:08:42","slug":"press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism","title":{"rendered":"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>The Minister of Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, said the government will move forward with its proposed National Press Accreditation Policy despite concerns raised by the Gambia Press Union and other media advocates.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In an interview with West Coast Radio, Dr. Ceesay defended the policy, which would introduce a centralized accreditation system that would require journalists, freelancers, content creators, and social media users with significant public reach to obtain state authorization to access government events and perform key journalistic functions.The proposal has prompted debate across The Gambia, with critics warning it could have implications for press freedom. The minister, however, said the government remains committed to implementing the policy, even as it considers revisions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing can stop us from going through with this regulation; we will tweak it, we will amend it to make it better, and we are not saying it is perfect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Ceesay emphasized that the policy would undergo further consultation, noting that stakeholder engagement is intended to refine its provisions while supporting democratic governance and modernizing the media landscape.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will consult; we will engage stakeholders to make it better, to promote our democracy, to modernize our media ecosystem, and to protect and support the public interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the government does not intend to abandon the proposal and urged critics to participate in the dialogue. \u201cWe are not backing down on this. It is not possible, so I would advise them to come back to the drawing board. Let\u2019s sit and discuss and find a solution to this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. The Minister of Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, said the government will move forward with its proposed National Press Accreditation Policy despite concerns raised by the Gambia Press Union and other media advocates. In an interview with West Coast Radio, Dr. Ceesay defended the policy, which would introduce a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":96019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-96021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","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>Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Minister of Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, said the government will move forw ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Minister of Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, said the government will move forw ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T10:39:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T11:08:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238549.118565.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-15T10:39:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-15T11:08:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism\"},\"wordCount\":284,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238549.118565.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism\",\"name\":\"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238549.118565.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-15T10:39:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-15T11:08:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The Minister of Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, said the government will move forw ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238549.118565.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238549.118565.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\",\"name\":\"Gambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism - Gambia","description":"The Minister of Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, said the government will move forw ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism","og_description":"The Minister of Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, said the government will move forw ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism","og_site_name":"Gambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-04-15T10:39:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-15T11:08:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238549.118565.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism","datePublished":"2026-04-15T10:39:21+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-15T11:08:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism"},"wordCount":284,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238549.118565.jpg","keywords":["Gambia"],"articleSection":["all news","culture and art"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism","name":"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism - Gambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238549.118565.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-15T10:39:21+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-15T11:08:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The Minister of Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, said the government will move forw ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238549.118565.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238549.118565.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/press-accreditation-policy-will-proceed-despite-criticism#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Press Accreditation Policy will Proceed Despite Criticism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/","name":"Gambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96040,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96021\/revisions\/96040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}