Delayed Democracy: How Press Freedom Collapsed In Gambia: A Proposition for Research in The Gambian Journalism History 1965-2013 - Softcover

Jallow, Alagi Yorro

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1491806621 ISBN 13: 9781491806623

Publisher: AuthorHouse, 2013

Synopsis

The media plays a crucial role in shaping a healthy and vibrant democracy. It is the backbone of any functioning democracy. This book evaluates the role of the news media in The Gambia, in a variety of contexts and the major constraints and challenges which prevent journalism from fulfilling these ideal roles, and the most effective policy interventions available to strengthen the contribution of the news media to both democratic governance and human development. Specifically, it investigates the relationship between the Gambian Press and the military and quasi-military regimes in The Gambia, in the context of press freedom. This book examines in great detail decrees and laws enacted by the AFPRC-APRC regimes which restricted press freedom during the period of military rule in The Gambia and also in the post-coup era. Furthermore, it identifies and analyses the institutional, legal and non-legal measures and mechanisms utilized by the AFPRC-APRC regimes in controlling the Gambian press from 1994 to date. This work also examines both "direct" and "indirect" forms of manipulation the Jammeh regime used-forms that have ranged from selective assassination, extra-constitutional decrees, and promulgation of retroactive laws, to bribery, compulsion to self-censorship, and the offer (and acceptance) of lucrative press relations jobs in the government. This work attempts to address this question: how far can autocracies strengthen popular support by silencing dissent and manipulating the news? The many ways that autocracies seek to control the media are documented. How far has the Gambian leader, with the restrictive media environment in the country, succeeded in manipulating public opinion and strengthening his support at home?

About this title

About the Author:

Alagi Yorro Jallow was the co-proprietor and managing editor of the banned Independent, a newspaper he founded in the West African state of The Gambia. In 1999, he served as a correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation. Since his journalism career began in 1987, Jallow has also worked as a correspondent for the International Press Institute and as a consultant to the London based free-expression organization, Article 19. At the Independent, Jallow became known for his editorials exposing the repressive government of President Yayha Jammeh, who took over in 1994. Jallow is twice winner, in 2000 and 2004, of the prestigious Hellman\Hammet award administered by Human Rights Watch for persecuted writers. Jallow became the first Gambian journalist to receive this prestigious award. In 2003, he was a runner-up for the World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen Award. In 2005, Jallow received the International Press Freedom Award presented by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression ( CJFE) for his uncompromising and fearless efforts to promote press freedom in The Gambia, despite numerous obstacles. In 2007 he was the first Gambian to become a Nieman Fellow at the prestigious Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Jallow also became an Edward S. Mason Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, a program in public policy and management, and he was awarded a Master of Public Administration by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He was a Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, D.C. where he researched and wrote The Gambia Media and Militocracy under Jammeh, 1994-2012. Jallow also served as consultant for the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance for two years. Jallow's research interests include West Africa, African media studies, democratic governance, human rights violations, asylum and immigration, and other social justice issues as well as Pan-Africanism.

About this edition

• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1491806621
• ISBN 13: 9781491806623
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 250