The Media, it is said, is the Fourth Estate referring to it as the fourth arm of government. In a democracy, the three arms of government are the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature. Due to its crucial role in good governance therefore, the media is referred to as the fourth arm.
Since the change of government in 2017, The Gambia has registered significant progress in terms of press freedom. There has been progress also in freedom of speech generally and the arrest and detention of journalists has reduced significantly.
It could be noted that the country made significant improvement in the Press Freedom Index as President Àdama Barrow appeared to be more tolerant of criticism and dissenting opinions. Less journalists and rights activists have been detained or arrested since his coming into power.
That is however not to say that the road had been smooth all along. There have been cases of journalists and rights activists being detained or arrested in the past few years. And as the 2026 election gets closer, the government’s patience seems to be running thinner.
The latest case, which is potentially damaging to the image of the government, is the dragging to court of journalist Justice Darboe and Musa Sheriff, both of The Voice Newspaper on charges of false publication. The due are accused of publishing a false story relating to President Adama Barrow working on an exit plan.
It seems to be ill-advised for President Barrow to insist on going to court when they could have simply resolved the matter through the Media Council. The Council is set up for precisely these types of disagreements and it would have been most suited to resolve the whole saga.
As it is, insisting on the court case will simply bring more bad press for his government and therefore do more harm than good.
