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Momodou
Denmark
11699 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Apr 2012 : 21:10:21
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Congratulations Daily News. Thank you for being another alternative voice.
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Daily News Editorial: The Daily News at 3
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
 Last Friday - April 6, 2012 – marks three years of the existence of The Daily News. It has been three years of progressive work here at our offices along KomboSillah Drive, Churchill’s Town, Serrekunda. There were registered achievements – impressive ones at that – as well as challenges which were daunting.
Indeed, on April 6, 2009, when the first copy of The Daily News hit the streets of Greater Banjul Area, little did we know that publishing a newspaper is not as easy as we had thought.
However, with a dedicated staff, resourceful freelancers, inspired contributors and collaborators as well as dear patrons – readers and advertisers – the paper is able to make its presence significantly felt in the country’s media landscape.
And here we are today celebrating three solid years of business of informing, educating and entertaining the public in an unrivalled fashion.
In the past three years, the management was able to pump over 368,000 hard copies of the newspaper into the market. We are grateful to our esteem patrons: readers and advertisers over these years. If it were not our readers and advertisers, the newspaper would not have reached where it is today – The Gambia’s fastest growing newspaper.
As the paper is also published online, we are glad to report that thousands visit our website: www.dailynews.gm or www.dailynewsgambia.com on a daily basis. The latest report on the site shows that there were 47,186 page views per day across the world with a wider readership in countries such as Senegal, U.K, U.S.A, Germany, Spain, Finland, and India.
The paper started as a bi-weekly newspaper; published on Mondays and Fridays. However with a higher demand, we saw the need to increase our frequency to three times a week – Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays - within the first two years of operations. The pages also were increased from the initial 12 to 16 pages.
With the increase in the number of pages on the paper, we introduced more columns – news, research, analysis and commentaries. These include MusululaBantaba, Kissy-kissy, Kabeefoo, Human rights, Health, Media Watch, Business Matters, Entertainment, Youth Platform, Education and Environment. All of these are geared towards satisfying our diverse audience.
However, the past years were not hitch-free, even though we would say the hitches are relatively not serious. In 2010 when the paper reported on the dilapidated condition of the new police line, the co-authors as well as the proprietor were summoned to the police headquarters by the then-former police chief, EnsaBadgie, who unilaterally ordered that the reporters should on no account visit the vicinities of the police headquarters.
In the same year, two reporters on assignment at the tourism development area following the reported harassment of youth struggling to eke out living from serving as unofficial tourist guides were arrested by military personnel there. In 2011, our judicial affairs correspondent, who was investigating the killing of a suspected drug dealer, allegedly by anti narcotics agents, got briefly detained.
In 2011, the paper’s provincial reporter was arrested and detained for a couple of hours at the Brikama-ba and Bansang police stations for reporting an article on the miss-handling of a President Jammeh sponsored hajj package.
These, among other attacks on press freedom, points to the fact that overall the press situation in the country has room for improvement. Certainly, unlike before, there were minimal many arrests, detentions and court appearances in recent years.
As we mark the paper’s third year, there has been new entrants in the media industry – newspapers and radios. Therefore, while commending the authorities for allowing the proliferation of media outfits, at least for radio and print, we encourage them to give chance to press freedom in the country. There cannot be any development without a free press.
To this end, The Daily News sends best greetings to all those who have in one way or the other positively accompanied us through our journey towards creating an enlightened Gambia.
The Daily News is Factual, Reliable, and Authoritative.
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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