Journalists
from the two giant media outlets in France, France24 and Radio France
Internationale (RFI), recently paid a courtesy call on The Point newspaper.
Sarah
Sakho of France24 television and Bineta Diagne of RFI visited the newspaper as
part of a documentary they are working on looking at the challenges of the
press in The Gambia and the new found freedom in the country.
The
duo are in The Gambia to cover activities relating to the days before, during
and after the December 1, 2016 Presidential election in The Gambia for the
highly followed French news channels.
“We
have been covering the news but now it is not like breaking news anymore, our
mission now is to do a longer piece documentary on the challenges of the New
Gambia and press freedom,” they said.
The
reporters for the French media giants said they specifically decided to centre
their documentary on The Point newspaper because of its symbolic benchmark and
reputation in the media fraternity of The Gambia.
“There
are other media houses we could have visited but we chose and decided to focus
on The Point because The Point newspaper is symbolic both in The Gambia and
internationally,” they said.
“The
paper is also renowned since the murder of the famous journalist, Deyda Hydara,
which is blamed on the former government.”
They
said when ready, their documentary will be aired both in the English and French
services of France24 TV and RFI.
France24
is a twenty-four hour non-stop international news and current affairs
television channel based in Paris and broadcasts in French, English and
Arabic. According to its statistics, it
has a weekly audience of more than 40 million viewers.
Similarly,
RFI is a French radio station that broadcasts in Paris and all over the world
with 35.6 million listeners. It is one
of the most listened to international radio stations in the world, along with
BBC World Service, Voice of America and Deutsche Welle.
The
Point, founded by Pap Saine and the late Deyda Hydara, is the biggest
independent newspaper in The Gambia and so far the only one in the country to
have received international awards including the Johann Philipp Palm Award.
