The Gambia Press Union has come out strongly in swatting down president Barrow’s assertions the media has enjoyed phenomenal growth and freedom under his rule.
Addressing crowds in his nation wide swing, president Barrow groused about lack of fair treatment in the media, despite the fact that he presided over a Golden era of zero arrests and 400% growth in media houses.
But responding to president Barrow in a statement published by The Standard newspaper, the Secretary General of Gambia Press Union Saikou Jammeh said:
“It is not accurate that the number of radios and TVs has increased by 400 percent. Maybe television but the number of radio stations hasn’t increased by even 100 percent.In fact, we have more journalists assaulted in three years of the Barrow administration than the last five years of the Jammeh administration.
More than a dozen journalists have been arrested from 2017 to date and more than 15 media practitioners have been assaulted from 2017 to date. One of the incidents occurred during the president’s own event. It will be quite disappointing for him to distort the facts about the situation of journalists or incite attacks against journalists. And he seems to be doing that more regularly than acceptable in recent times”.
Commenti