By Amadou M Jadama
The Editor-In-Chief of the Voice Newspaper, Musa Sheriff has defended the neutrality and integrity of his medium, saying his outlet is not an opposition paper.
Sheriff said rumors have been making the rounds for quite some time now that his paper is in the opposition because of the type of newspaper articles they produce.
“The Voice is an Independent Newspaper,” Mr Sheriff said. “We are not an opposition paper and there is no opposition paper in this Country.”
He was speaking recently at the opening of a capacity building training for The Voice Newspaper staff.
The EU funded Unesco programme is designed to contribute to better democratic governance through improving freedom of the press and the quality of information available to the population.
And Mr Sheriff said due to such unfounded rumors, his paper continues to struggle for adverts.
He said his medium is here to work for the “Voice of the Voiceless.”
He promised to deliver journalistically, saying they will continue to scrutinise and do even better than they did in previous regime of former presidentYahya Jammeh.
In his opening remark, Malick Jones the deputy permanent secretary at the Ministry of Information said: “We have a new government that has made new pronouncements on media freedom.
“We at the moment established a media committee to look into media commission bills and take out all the laws that hindered journalists’ work. “
A representative of the UNESCO Papa Yusupha Njie, said in order to develop, journalists have to be professional and understand the ethics of the profession.
“The Journalists are the eyes, mouth and noses of the Gambian populace, who do not have the opportunity to use the pen to write on issues affecting their lives.”
Historian Hasoum Ceesay also coached similar remarks.
