The Curtain Falls on the Press and Presidency Relationship — Barrow goes berserk Part Three
Arfang Madi Sillah, a Washington D.C.-based Gambian scholar and commentator, has written a compelling and thought-provoking e book titled The Curtain Falls on the Press and Presidency Relationship—Barrow Goes Berserk.
Known for his incisive political evaluation and deep understanding of Gambian affairs, Sillah examines the fraught relationship between the press and the presidency in The Gambia, significantly beneath President Adama Barrow’s administration.
Below is an abridged model of the e book.
Chapter 3: Echo Chambers of Power
In any thriving democracy, the press serves as an indispensable watchdog—a vital pressure able to illuminating the darkest corners of governmental malfeasance and holding the highly effective accountable.
Journalists, armed with pen and paper—or at present, digital units—are anticipated to delve deep into the machinations of energy, exposing corruption, injustice, and the assorted illnesses that plague society. However, in The Gambia, this noble excellent has been laid to relaxation, smothered beneath the burden of complacency and co-optation. The media panorama has metamorphosed right into a lamentable tableau the place newspapers merely regurgitate sanitised narratives churned out by the federal government’s public relations machine or, worse, fabricate tales out of skinny air, counting on phantom sources.
In truth, the final seven years have witnessed an alarming decline in severe investigative journalism in The Gambia, as many editors, reporters, and publishers proceed to money in by promoting out as an alternative of promoting tales. When was the final time a Gambian minister felt the sweat of panic on the mere point out of their identify in print? When was the final time a newspaper headline despatched shivers down the backbone of these occupying the corridors of energy?
The reply, regrettably, is that such moments have grow to be relics of the previous. Today, it isn’t the federal government trembling in worry of an investigative headline; it’s the press itself that appears paralysed, tiptoeing across the fact as if it owes its loyalty to these in energy.
The watchdog has grow to be the handmaiden of the very system it was meant to maintain in verify. Ministers who as soon as feared the wrath of the press now stroll confidently by the corridors of energy, figuring out full nicely that the media has been neutered. In different phrases, the roles have reversed—the federal government not shivers on the considered the press; somewhat, the press appears terrified to poke the hornet’s nest of energy, performing as if its survival is dependent upon retaining these it ought to scrutinise firmly out of its crosshairs.
It is a well-established truth in political science that the media performs a pivotal position in shaping public opinion. What the general public is aware of and believes is basically decided by what the press chooses to report—or, more and more, what it chooses to not report. This is the essence of agenda-setting principle: the ability to inform folks not what to suppose, however what to consider.
The position of the press in a democratic society is to function a platform for numerous viewpoints and to foster a strong trade of concepts. Citizens ought to have free entry to the press to trade concepts, and views ought to be open to scrutiny as a result of that’s how civil society thrives. Yet, of their dealing with of public debate, mainstream Gambian publications reminiscent of The Standard, The Point, The Voice, and FOROYAA have successfully functioned as echo chambers, selectively amplifying the voices of sure people whereas systematically excluding different viewpoints.
This editorial censorship has stifled the plurality of voices that’s the lifeblood of any vibrant journalistic panorama. It’s as if to seem within the native press, one should possess not only a sound argument but additionally a secret handshake and the approval of editorial overlords. Whether as a consequence of bias, favouritism, or a reluctance to disturb the fastidiously curated mental establishment, the result’s a monopoly of concepts the place solely choose voices are amplified. This creates an mental bubble that fosters a false sense of invincibility—an setting the place critique is unwelcome and dissenting voices are systematically excluded.
We’ve seen comparable points in Britain, the place The Guardian has been accused of selling sure political narratives whereas sidelining others. Gambian media appears to be following this path, buying and selling mental variety for a snug however stagnant mental setting.
For years, native newspapers have revealed the musings of self-proclaimed intellectuals, shielding them from the sort of rigorous scrutiny that’s important for the expansion of concepts. Any try to supply well-reasoned rejoinders aimed toward dismantling these flawed narratives has been conveniently sidelined, by no means seeing the sunshine of day.
This observe mirrors what George Orwell warned towards in Animal Farm: a media setting the place sure voices are “more equal than others.” It’s not nearly bias; it’s in regards to the erosion of a market of concepts, leaving readers to simply accept a slim and unchallenged narrative. By shutting down strong debate and limiting the scope of mental engagement, the media has betrayed its obligation to the general public. They’ve turned the media panorama right into a curated platform for the few, leaving readers clutching at straws for a shred of real journalism.
This is the place the shadow of Dr. Assan Jallow looms giant. His long-winded, usually incoherent ramblings are given delight of place within the very newspapers that ought to be holding his concepts to account. It’s not that his concepts are significantly unhealthy; it’s that they’re seldom, if ever, challenged. His latest articles on Dr. Mamadou Tangara have been initially revealed in The Standard, which, as a accountable outlet, ought to have been the primary to supply house for a proper of reply to anybody wishing to counter his arguments.
Yet, for some cause, The Standard seems reluctant to publish any counterarguments, nearly as if they’re shielding these mediocre intellectuals behind some type of editorial safety—akin to paying a sort of “intellectual protection fee.” In this, the state of Gambian journalism is harking back to the darker days of British tabloid journalism, the place the likes of Richard Desmond, together with his scandal-plagued tenure on the Daily Express, turned the media right into a playground for the well-heeled and well-connected.
The whole affair reeks of a pay-for-play racket, a betrayal of journalistic rules the place protection may be purchased, and editorial stances are up on the market. How can they name themselves unbiased after they’re extra involved with taking part in favourites than with serving the general public good?
This transformation of journalism right into a commodity is strictly what Evelyn Waugh satirised in Scoop, a novel that mocks the absurdities of a press extra concerned with promoting than serving. The Gambian media appears to have embraced Waugh’s satire as a playbook, turning their pages into marketplaces the place fact is negotiable.
Dr. Assan Jallow and lots of the so-called Gambian intellectuals are prime merchandise of this setting. Scholars who’ve grown accustomed to having their work revealed unchallenged are insulated from the peer overview course of that may in any other case expose the evident flaws of their reasoning.
In situations the place these so-called students, like Dr. Jallow, make evident errors or espouse questionable arguments, the mainstream media’s lack of accountability mechanisms ensures that such errors go uncorrected, additional entrenching the misperception that their work is past reproach.
In the previous, people like Dr. Jallow have been in a position to bask within the glow of unearned mental reverence—not as a result of their concepts have been significantly insightful, however as a result of the chance to critique and problem their work was systematically denied. Their voices dominated the general public sphere just because opposing voices have been silenced by editors who appeared intent on sustaining an mental hierarchy the place solely a choose few loved the privilege of being unassailable.
This created a stagnant mental panorama the place critique was not solely discouraged however actively suppressed, leading to a one-sided discourse devoid of the dynamism and vibrancy that true debate brings.
Evidently, there’s an underlying “pay-to-play” dynamic at work, the place monetary incentives, somewhat than the benefit of concepts, usually decide who will get revealed. This has created an mental market the place visibility and affect should not earned by rigorous scholarship however bought by financial means. Such practices undermine the credibility of those media shops and contribute to the proliferation of unchallenged, substandard mental content material.
But all isn’t misplaced. The development of unbiased on-line platforms is starting to crack the inspiration of this journalistic charade. These digital Davids, armed with laptops and a need for fact, are difficult the Goliath of mainstream complacency. They’re doing what the normal press has didn’t do—holding the highly effective to account, giving voice to the unvoiced, and daring to inform the tales that others are too timid to the touch. They’re the digital pamphleteers of our time, carrying on the legacy of Thomas Paine, who knew that “the pen is mightier than the sword” solely when it’s not offered to the best bidder.
These digital shops, devoted to selling open debate and numerous views, are exposing the shortcomings of established figures like Dr. Jallow. For the primary time, Gambian readers are being introduced with a extra balanced mental panorama, the place different viewpoints should not solely heard but additionally critically engaged with. This shift is progressively dismantling the phantasm of mental authority that people like Dr. Jallow have lengthy loved, subjecting their concepts to the rigorous scrutiny they’ve beforehand evaded.
This rising pattern is reflective of the grand custom of mental inquiry that has formed human thought from Classical Greece to the Enlightenment period. From the times of Classical Greece, intellectuals like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle championed the worth of debate, cause, and—most significantly—the scrutiny of concepts by peer overview.
It was their agency perception that fact might solely be uncovered by rigorous examination and dialogue, the place no thought was thought-about too sacred or inviolable to be questioned. Socrates, together with his relentless dialectical methodology, engaged his interlocutors in a quest for clearer understanding, at all times urging them towards larger mental humility.
Plato’s Republic epitomises this course of, presenting competing arguments that develop the boundaries of data by rigorous debate. Aristotle, to not be outdone, established the Lyceum, the place mental trade was not a monologue however a classy dialectic—one which sharpened the minds of all who participated.
Fast-forward to the Enlightenment, and we see philosophers reminiscent of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Kant carrying forth the torch of cause, championing free debate to not destroy the views of others, however to refine and develop one’s personal concepts by strong critique.
Rousseau’s quarrels together with his contemporaries over the character of human society and Voltaire’s relentless advocacy at no cost speech have been rooted within the conviction that solely by contestation might fact be pursued. Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason is a permanent testomony to the worth of difficult and interrogating acquired knowledge.
The methodology of peer overview—inviting scrutiny to make sure no argument stands untested—has been the linchpin of mental progress for hundreds of years. It is that this spirit of rigorous inquiry that sustains the development of human thought.
The emergence of unbiased media in The Gambia is thus a return to those basic rules of mental engagement. By breaking the monopoly of mainstream shops and permitting a plurality of voices to be heard, these new platforms are reviving the classical custom of open debate and significant inquiry.
They are guaranteeing that no concept stays past scrutiny and that the reality, nevertheless inconvenient, is pursued by rigorous examination. In this new setting, figures like Dr. Jallow can not depend on unchallenged platforms to uphold their mental stature; they need to now interact with their critics and refine their concepts by the very course of that has traditionally propelled human data ahead.
The democratisation of knowledge by on-line media has levelled the taking part in area, making it more and more tough for mainstream shops to proceed their exclusionary practices. In this revitalised mental panorama, all concepts—no matter their supply—should stand up to public critique and debate. As a consequence, the Gambian mental group is starting to interrupt free from the constraints of media gatekeeping, paving the way in which for a extra vibrant and dynamic trade of concepts that honours the timeless custom of inquiry from Classical Greece to the Enlightenment.
So, let’s not child ourselves. The mainstream media in The Gambia isn’t about serving the general public good; it’s about serving its personal pursuits, peddling affect whereas pretending to champion the widespread man. The actual heroes are these within the new media, those that dare to problem the narratives, who refuse to be purchased off or intimidated.
And it’s excessive time the Gambian public stood behind them, as a result of the true battle isn’t between Barrow and the media—it’s between a press that serves itself and a press that serves the folks. While the challenges are substantial, the emergence of a extra numerous and unbiased media panorama presents hope that The Gambia can transfer past the darkish days of knowledge management and in direction of a future the place the press genuinely serves the general public curiosity.
By Arfang Madi Sillah
To be continued.
See under half one and two of the abridged model of the e book.
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