The Daily News Trio Put up Outstanding Performances

Our very own Lamin Njie, editor, Abdoulie Nget, sports editor and Binta A. Bah, a judicial correspondent have all made it through to the second stage of Gambia Press Union and Article 19 training programme for Gambian journalists.

The Daily News trio were among twenty Gambian journalists, who took part in the first stage of the training on International Standards on Freedom of Expression after a vigorous screening process of about 48 applicants.

The second stage of the training will focus on the security protection of Journalist. Slated for later this year, it will be organised by article 19 through their office in Mexico.

Mexico is rated as one of the dangerous places for a journalist to operate, but the media workers in that hostile media environment have over years built their skills on how to protect themselves.

And the second phase of the GPU-Article programme will be premised on a similar capacity building training for Gambian journalists, who have over the years came under a series of attacks.

They will be trained on security of journalists and on how a journalist protects him/herself in times of security breach.

Following these 12 journalists, another selection would be done to determine who shall go to the final component of the training.

Meanwhile, the topics covered during the first phase of the training included freedom of expression under international law, freedom of expression and civil defamation, freedom of expression and national security, international standards on the right to information, benefits of access to information among other relevant topics.

 Binta A.  Bah one of the lucky participants’ who  has made it to the second stage of the training,  commended The Gambia Press Union, Article 19, European Union and the Non-State Actors for coming up with the programme.

She described the training as timely and expressed her readiness to push for a press-free Gambia where journalists could do their work freely without fear or favor.

“I have learned a lot and I am ready to share the knowledge with my colleagues,” she said.

The week long training which ended last Friday witnessed the handing over of certificates to participants. The training was funded by the European Union.