Monday, August 11, 2014

Our editorial independence is paramount

As the blog clocks its first anniversary, we want to refresh our commitment to our growing readership to a free and unfettered access to the news and our views of the news.   In doing so, we want to reassure everyone of our editorial independence.

We have tried in the first twelve months of our existence to fill a void by providing content and perspective that is based on facts. We will endeavor to maintain the standards we have set for ourselves, and to continue to improve on them.

You, the readers, deserve better, especially the young unemployed and under-employed Gambians who brave the odds to again access to a computer to read us.

We find it necessary to restate our editorial position because of recent developments following the just concluded US-Africa Summit in Washington DC where Gambian dissident protesters succeeded, once more, in preventing Yaya Jammeh from fully taking part.

We join others in acknowledging this significant development and continue to urge the leadership of "The Struggle" to stay the course and ready to resist the ensuing distractions that might emanate from the agents of the regime or those sympathetic to or in the pay of Yaya Jammeh.  

The success of the Gambian dissidents against the dictatorship immediately came under attack by nitpicking and spurious allegation about the sourcing of our reporting of the events in Washington - reporting we are proud of, and for which we have received positive reaction from you, the readers.

We are proud of, and continue to have full confidence in, our sources who constantly provide us with reliable and quality information from the epicenter of where news is being made, and at great risk.

Our blog does not belong to, or affiliated with, any political party, dissident groupings in America or elsewhere.  We will remain unaffiliated in the interest of our readership that has doubled in the second quarter of this year, with the Gambia responsible for approximately 50% of that growth.

The number of our Facebook friends have shown similar growth patterns, thus providing us with the youthful participation in the lively debate that takes place in our page at www.facebook.com/sidi.sanneh.1 on topics of interest.

Like the blog, the editorial content of our Facebook page is also a 'no go' area for those who'd like to influence the content of the page.  Facebook policy rules in this instance, and not some obscure caller to an online radio show.

Finally, we encourage the readership to continue reading us, and making copies for parents, friends and colleagues, especially those in the rural areas, and to provide us with your feed-back through our Facebook page.