“We have discussed supporting private media at the government level. I am currently working with The Gambia Press Union (GPU), because we plan to have a gathering where we will discuss on three agendas based on the innovative way of financing,” he said at Information Ministry’s monthly press conference yesterday.
“We want to have a dialogue on what we are supposed to do because there are many ways to support the media,” he said.
“There are some who support media by giving subvention to the media houses or an umbrella body that governs the media to provide support to media houses and some give tax breaks. Therefore, we are looking at ways; though we have do not have a concrete agreement on what we should do.”
“And this is why we want to engage all media chiefs to hear from them on how they want to be supported in earnest,” he said.
“We are also planning to provide training for 50 journalists, fact-checkers, and editors and media practitioners.”
“This training also is to train them on the dangers of misinformation and how they can counter it. Not only that, the outcomes of these trainings and the colloquium will be three key documents. One is, we are planning on developing what they call an action plan against disinformation.”
Further stating his ministry’s plans for the year, he said they intend working towards raising awareness about the Digital Protection and Privacy Bill and prepare for the personalisation of the agency once the bill is enacted.
“Importantly, we are taking measures to combat misinformation and disinformation through campaigns, and we are starting one this week. We are launching a campaign called Countering Disinformation and Misinformation.
“It's a two-week campaign with billboards, videos, training and community engagements. We are setting a team for two weeks to go to each region and have town hall to talks with citizens about the dangers of misinformation and disinformation and how they can counter it,” he stated.
“It is particularly now that we are facing elections, there are people who just sit and just misinform the public. Information that can destroy social cohesion, that can undermine national security, we want to ensure we sensitise people on how to counter those.”
