One of Gambia’s most persecuted journalists during the previous APRC regime of President Yahya Jammeh is to be honored today for his contributions to the development of Gambian media.
Alagi Yorro Jallow, former managing editor and founder of The Independent, the Gambia’s only private newspaper before it was banned by the government in 2005 and author of “Delayed Democracy: How Press Freedom Collapsed in Gambia”, used his newspaper to give a voice to Gambians and to expose what the secretive Jammeh regime wanted to keep away from the eyes and ears of the public.
He was among a group of private newspaper proprietors who successfully campaigned to disband a government-controlled media commission with extensive powers to punish journalists.
However, his work as a journalist and human rights advocate has not been without opposition. He was arbitrarily arrested and detained several times and in April 2004, a group of armed men entered the office of The Independent in the early morning and set it ablaze with the staff still inside.
Several staff were wounded, and the office and printing equipment owned by the paper was destroyed causing huge economic loss.
The following year, his newspaper was arbitrarily shutdown by the government for its independent reporting.
A winner of the 2005 International Press Freedom Award, Mr. Jallow has been living in the United States since December 2004 when he received several death threats after the murder of fellow Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara.
Despite being thousands of miles away, the former vice chairman of the GPU continues to play a key role in the development of journalism in the country such as helping to raise funds for the maintenance of the union’s secretariat including payment of rent, telephone, electricity and Internet bills. In 2005, he helped to facilitate the purchase of a printing press for GPU through a US Government grant.
In 2010, he played a crucial role in helping to secure a grant from the US State Department for the funding of a 20-month program with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), the Gambia Press Union and the Foundation for Legal Aid, Research and Empowerment (FLARE) to equip media workers in the Gambia with human and material resources that enabled them to respond with greater effectiveness to repressive and punitive media laws.
The program among other things helped to enhance the skills of journalists and editors, increase communication among all Gambian media professionals, strengthen the associations that represent them and work to protect their rights.
Last year, Mr. Jallow donated an assortment of (Journalism, Communication and History) books to the Gambia Press Union School of Journalism.
In recognition for his active contributions to the development of the Gambia Press Union and the journalism fraternity in general, Mr. Jallow, a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy and a 2007 Nieman fellow, will be given the prestigious GPU’s President Award at the Gambia’s Djembe Beach Resort.
Reacting to the award, Mr. Jallow said he is pleased, honored to accept the prestigious award and is and humbled to join past recipients whom he has long admired and respected.
“A very special thanks to the Gambia Press Union executive for selecting me. And an enormous salute to all this year’s nominees each of whom have made incredible contributions towards freedom of speech, or of the press in the Gambia,” he said.
Mr Jallow added: “It’s a great honor for me to be one of the recipients of the 2018 GPU President’s Award for my “services to the Gambia Press Union and the Media Fraternity”. It’s indeed a privilege to be among the Gambian journalist to be awarded this prestigious GPU Honorary Award in the year 2018.
“Awards, no doubt, are always recognition of your endeavors and professional commitments; a source of encouragement which boosts your energy levels, and a drive that enkindles new fire inside you to steer into new challenges.
“I am grateful to Allah Almighty, my family, friends and the organizations I worked with, for their utmost support in my career. This award is also an opportunity to raise my voice against press freedom that journalists in the Gambia are subjected to for decades. I expect this award will promote the true meaning of courage and Ethical Journalism in the Gambia. The Courage which adventurism is never and the Ethics that is widely in question now days in the media fraternity.
“My work for free speech has made me a better journalist – and a more responsible citizen of the world. These awards come at a moment when journalism has become more independent and responsible. However, this success is countered by huge challenges. I accept this award on behalf of thousands of journalists who risk their lives for free speech and justice.
“Consider, what the world would be like without good journalism? The inherent power of the media has given corrupt and tyrannical governments sleepless nights. We have immense power, ladies and gentlemen, to expose evil and cause positive change.
“The question that I often ask myself is: What can I do to change things? I have the answer to my own question. I can tell the truth, no matter the consequences. Doing this powerful job comes with a high price. We journalists are threatened, harassed, and imprisoned. Jails doors are open— waiting for anyone who dares to tell the truth. For many – including myself – the fight has not yet broken our backs. But sadly, others have lost the battle, often paying the highest price with their lives.
“Thank you again, the Gambia Press Union. You are generous supporters of hard-working and visionary journalism. Your work with journalists helps improve the lives of defenseless people all over the country.”
Alagi, this award is earned and well deserved. You continue to educate and bring the important issues confronting our “home” to the forefront. With sons of Gambia such as you, all things are possible and our collective future is bright. What you do is dangerous and challenging, but you make it seems easy because you are gifted. Well done and good job.
It is a trait of African Government to silence the free press/ While I do not agree with everything Alagi writes, he is someone important in the development of the aims and ambitions of the GPU/ It is a shame that Demba Jawo is no longer independent/ He is another who was fundamental and vital in the struggle;
Both men deserve an award from Government; Meanwhile this award from the GPU reinforces Alagi’s words and opinions. The true journalist never rests his case. He must speak out. Any true democratic nation should never fear the spoke or written word. Congratulations. The struggle continues.
Mind the gap!!! He might also loose his independence like Demba and Baba Galleh, once he starts receiving a salary.
Mr Gambian,I have a well-paid job in the US and besides I have my printing press in the Gambia,easy to revive the Independent make money than work for any government
!!!
Here we go again!!! Demba and Baba were not unemployed when they accepted the current offers. They didnt even lobby, at least in person, for those positions. On the other hand there are many government empployees who got more than what you have listed for. Yet, they serving their country. So try again.
This is a well deserved-award. Congratulations and keep up the good job, Yorro.
This is a well-deserved award. Congratulations and keep up the good job, Yorro.
Mr,Gambian,I have a good job and a fellow in a one of the most prestigious fellowships in the US,besides I have two printing machines,the closest me work in The Gambia is to revive the independent and part time with the GPU training school.I have no interest serving government and again I am doing things for my country.
No body doubts that you deserve this award, and even more prestigious ones, just like Baba and Demba. However, no one for instance, not even Demba himself, could have predicted that one good day he will be on air defending a company damaging the natural environment it is operating in.
My line of argument is not that you do not deserve the award or that you are a poor guy scavenging for a job. In fact there is honor and pride in accepting a job offer from your government. What is shameful is the pompousness, bragging, chest beating and arm pumping I am hearing from you.
Gambia, I personally do not agree with Alagi often, especially when I have the feeling that he is pushing the Western agenda to the detriment of our rich cultures and glorious history. An example in case will be his espousal for LGBTQ “rights” to become entrenched in our law books and be part of our social and cultural discourse. I must admit he has some unpalatable views. But chest beating and all the other arrogant attributes you mentioned are not a part of his persona. I don’t personally know him but I have been reading him for a while now, to be able to come to the conclusion that he is genuinely concerned about The Gambia more than himself.
Nothing could be more instructive and telling than the constant ‘I dont need a government job
… I have this, I have that”.
Koto Yorro I guess Gambia’s concern is whether you will stay true to the cause of liberation in The Gambia with time. Many fighters have succumbed to positions, money, power and comfortable privileges as if those were their ultimate aspirations. Indeed those were their highest goals.
No one can tell you or anyone for that matter what route to take in their personal enterprises. Nevertheless, a certain amount of responsility is owed by men and women of the type of status that you have and rightfully earned. That responsility is clear to you and even those who are no more part of the “struggle”.
Yours in the service of The Gambia and Africa , I remain.
Alagi/ I think if you revive The Independent, you won’t sell many copies. The true newspaper reports the truth and informs; without bias. I suppose you could always have a column and continue making your comments ? Your viewing figures on Jollof News are unremarkable. Glad your well paid job is more than the sum total of your contributions to humanity. AS they say ” don’t give up the day job”
Congrats to Alagi, no doubt he deserves the honour.
When I reviewed a book that claimed that “Jammeh is God’s Gift to Gambia”, Sheriff Bojang at Daily Observer refused to print my review – inspite of the fact that Sheriff had “commissioned” the review which I entitled “THE WORST BOOK EVER WRITTEN?”
Guess what.
The Independent published the review – with my title, “THE WORST BOOK EVER WRITTEN?” on the front-page!
The Independent Editor whose name I forget was a young Tukulor chap, whose father was maintaining the printer that Jammeh burnt down.
SO, Alagi most certainly deserves the HONOUR.
But as far as Alagi’s brand of journalism is concerned, I have two worries:-
Firstly, Alagi’s USA sojourn and “fellowship” with the NED may have made him a tool of USA hegemonic propaganda around the world – and certainly that is what the National Endownment for Democracy is about (NED is about “Regime Change” using Media). Alagi’s recent writings are generally a testimony to his ideological leanings and loyalty to Uncle Sam – which leads to the question ‘who is paying Alagi’s salary and for what?’
Secondly, I am NOT sure that Alagi’s “black & white” brand of journalism will take him very far in the New Gambia – things were much easier with Jammeh because “Jammeh was THE Devil”. To put it blantly, the Independent, Alagi and even the GREAT Fatou Jaw Manneh, the “Lady of the Flaming Pen”, were not “NUANCED” at all in their journalism – but THEN they didn’t need to be. Now they do – because Barrow is NOT at all a “devil” that Jammeh was. Blanket condemnations that Alagi uses in his writings now will not do in the new democratic dispensation, where restraint and responsibility will be demanded (and for this reason too Pa Nderry Mbai’s brand of un-research, un-verified journalism would not survive a week in the New Gambia).
Sorry, meant “blunt”.
Congratulations Mr Jallow. Keep up the good work, you’ve done your bit to free our motherland from the clutches of dictatorship.
Lamin LGBT rights are human rights and part of your country because as Mr Jallow mentioned in his article,the people are the very children of their african parents,they don’t fall from the sky,they are as much citizen as you are,and they have the right to live a life in freedom and in dignity and not to be enslaved by other citizens who enjoy this rights enshrined in the constitution.