The
Gambia’s solicitor general and legal secretary, who is also a keen follower of
Gambian sport and sports reporting, was the guest speaker when the Sports
Journalists’ Association of The Gambia (SJAG) commemorated the annual
International Sports Journalists Day (ISJD) on Saturday at the Sand Beach
Hotel. ISJD is commemorated globally annually on 2nd July.
Delivering
a statement on “Sports Press in the New Found Democracy” during a symposium
attended by sports journalists, Mr Cherno Marenah, solicitor general and legal
secretary, began by returning gratitude to SJAG for the invitation to him to
interact with the sports journalists on the celebration of the ISJD.
“I
am a big fan of sport and all sports journalists, and that is why I attend your
[SJAG] annual national sports awards night. And I am grateful always for the
opportunity to interact with you.”
Marenah,
who is a keen follower of sport, shared his ideas, experience and what he wants
to see happen when it comes to sports reporting.
“There
is a lot of opportunities now for generation of news largely as a result of the
internet. And sometimes I listen to some of the sports programs and I crunch
because, is more or less a reproduction of Internet news. I think the pitfall
of some of these rebroadcast of Internet news is that, we don’t seem to know
what is real and what is fantasy,” Marenah shared with the sports journalists.
He
urged the journalists to avoid rebroadcasting any news they hear, as some of
the news might not be credible hence putting the broadcaster’s credibility at
stake.
In
spite of the proliferation of local radios in the country, Solicitor General
Marenah observed that there is little reportage on local sporting events and
athletes.
“It
is amazing that one can have two hours program and is all based on
international stories. You [journalists] need to promote the local sporting
events and our athletes.”
He
urged the country’s sports journalists to improve on their tool as
broadcasters, which according to him, is the mastering of the English Language.
“If you want to be good broadcaster, you have to improve on your English
Language.”
SJAG
has been organizing training programmes for its members with the support of the
Gambia Press Union (GPU). He went further to encourage SJAG to organize more
refresher courses for sports journalists, as there is room for improvement.
According
to him, under the system of governance, plans are afoot to repeal some of the
bad media laws. However, he calls for responsible journalism.
He
suggested the need to have a regulation that would determine who becomes a
journalist, citing other professions where not anyone can use the profession
before being certified.
Musa
Sise, president of SJAG, commended the sports journalists for responding to the
invitation of SJAG to attend the symposium.
Sise,
who is a seasoned sports journalist, reminded the members of being
professionals in the execution of their daily sports reporting.
With
the advent of social media journalism, he urged members to be more wary of the
negativity that comes with the social media journalism where people can write
anything with little consideration for the ethics of the profession.
In
spite of the good coming out of the sports press, however, he said, some bad
still remain in it, which needs to be honestly looked into.
He
cited the unhealthy competition among sports journalists. “You need to compete
with what you do by informing the public of what is necessary and what they
need to know.”
Sise,
under whose leadership, the SJAG has registered so many achievements,
challenged the members to continue improving on what they do.
“This
is symposium meant for us to talk to each other and reflect on our achievements
and shortfalls as sports journalists. So let us make best use of this
gathering.”
In
a bid to better build the capacity of its members, Sise said SJAG is paying the
tuition fees for all the SJAG-registered members who are fortunate to be
enrolled at the GPU-School of Journalism.
Sise
Sawaneh is the 2nd vice president of the Sports Journalists’ Association of The
Gambia. She reminded her colleagues of the need to disseminate the right
information to the public.
She
said the symposium was a very important one for members to discuss among
themselves the development of sports journalism.
The
SJAG 2nd VP used the gathering to call on her fellow women to take up sports
journalism, while advising sports journalists to avoid abusing the social
media.
The
symposium was also characterised by comments, questions and suggestions from
the sports journalists.
Alieu
Ceesay, secretary general of SJAG, chaired the symposium.
He
thanked Solicitor General Cherno Marenah for honoring the invitation to address
the journalists.
The
event wrapped up with the annual fun day out on the beach, where members
interacted and had fun as members of the same profession.
