In the middle of March 2008 editor-in-chief Pa Nderry M’Bai of Gambia’s online news source Freedom Newspaper received numerous emails from concerned readers in Gambia informing him that they were unable to view the website. The government had blocked the website-a notorious tactic still familiar even to M’Bai who is now based in North Carolina, United States.

M’Bai explained to RAP 21 how he still directly feels the repercussions of an autocratic government even when far away. Freedom Newspaper is managed from the US while all reportage comes from the paper’s journalists and freelancers based in Gambia.

Since the paper was launched in the United States in 2006, M’Bai has continued to be under surveillance by the Gambian government and his newspaper is implicitly banned. The Gambian government has accused M’Bai of receiving unlawful funding from the US government. M’Bai told RAP 21 that he receives anonymous emails threatening his family still residing in Gambia. “I’m not scared,” he said, “I’m just doing my job.”

In fact, Freedom Newspaper is primarily self-financed with the help of some individual benevolent donors. As a result M’Bai said, “No outside forces can dictate to us how to write the newspaper. We don’t have obligations to anyone.”

The paper’s unique position in Gambia’s media scene has led Freedom Newspaper to become one of the government’s most wanted and the population’s most sought after news source. Eight thousand people view the online paper a day from all around the world. “It is very hard for the government to block Freedom Newspaper-it is on the world domain,” said M’Bai.

On 9 March Freedom Newspaper reported that GAMTEL, the country’s largest state-run telecommunications company, was heading towards bankruptcy. Consequently the government blocked the paper’s IP-address the following day from viewers within the country’s borders.

The editorial staff, which includes M’Bai and part-time editorial volunteers in the United States, was left with few options during the blockage. “When the paper is blocked we can change the IP but when they find it they can block it again,” said M’Bai. An alternative is distributing an electronic newsletter with the day’s stories. The blockage was lifted two weeks later.

M’Bai said, “This is very common. The government can block any site they want, they just need to know the address. The government resorts to blocking the paper, sometimes even up to six months for reasons of national security-our articles, they say, can spark change and get people to rebel against the government.”

In 2006 the paper was first hacked into and then banned by the government following articles that were critical of President Yahya Jammeh’s regime. In this case the government apparently did not believe blocking the website would suffice as a measure to quiet the newspapers’ pseudonymous journalists. To ignite fear and locate dissenters the pro-government and state-run newspaper The Daily Observer published the names and contact information of a handful of Gambians who had contributed to Freedom Newspaper.

As a result five journalists were arrested and detained for several days without trial before being released. “People were tortured and a subscriber of the newspaper was killed,” said M’Bai when talking about the crackdown in 2006. Omar Bah, then news editor of The Daily Observer was wanted for allegedly contributing to the paper as well. He escaped unhurt to the United States.

“In Gambia there is no free press, there is a dictator who believes in using security forces and opponents are exiled,” said M’Bai. Consequently, it is inculcated in the media that a voice of dissent is not tolerable; the unsolved case of reporter Chief Ebrima Manneh’s and the 16 December 2004 murder of Editor in Chief of The Point Deyda Hydara are never far from the minds of media practitioners in Gambia.

“The government passes legislation to scare sources in Gambia. He does everything to censor civil servants,” said M’Bai. On 7 April 2008 the government amended the longstanding Official Secrets Act (first promulgated in 1922) to set maximum penalties to life in prison with a minimum term of 30 years. “This is a very bad law to scare citizens and undermine the independent press,” said M’Bai.

The government’s stranglehold over the press has led to a nearly moribund independent press and widespread multilateral censorship in the country. “The national newspaper, The Daily Observer, was bought and lost its independence. Even The Point started losing its independence. Almost all newspapers practice self-censorship,” said M’Bai.

M’Bai explained to RAP 21 that censorship can result from an individual journalist, constituting self-censorship, an editor, or from the government. Freedom Newspaper has been able to avoid self-censorship. “True journalists keep to their beliefs,” said M’Bai on how he and his colleagues have managed to do this. Rather than being intimidated by the horrific plight of Hydara, M’Bai said his death has kept him to stay true to the essence of journalism. “He left a good legacy behind and we want to maintain it,” said M’Bai.

“You have to make sure that what you report can be defended and backed up with facts,” said M’Bai. “The media in Gambia is unfortunately not reporting what they should. Freedom Newspaper fills the media vacuum,” said M’Bai referring to the mission statement of the newspaper.

“Change must begin from the grassroots level. The Press can play a pivotal role in this by highlighting the atrocities perpetrated by the Government,” said M’Bai.

“Anyone who writes for Freedom Newspaper is wanted. We use pen names for the reporters. Only the editors know who they are,” said M’Bai. Not succumbing to self-censorship requires M’Bai to provide safety measures, encouragement, and support to his journalists.

Freedom Newspaper also provides online trainings to the journalists that cover basic news skills, how to prevent Internet hacking, and ethical journalistic skills. M’Bai stressed that while he advocates for completely free reportage he does not commend stories that are against the best interest of the country. “We don’t accommodate writing that endangers the country,” said M’Bai.

Before moving to the United States in 2004 M’Bai was accustomed to malleable editors found throughout Gambia and across Africa. “Editors would censor my pieces in their entirety. They can be demigods and you can’t challenge them,” M’Bai said. M’Bai also spoke of the deals powerful people strike with journalists to persuade them to abandon controversial headlines. Now that he runs his own newspaper M’Bai urges his journalists not to concede to the plethora of pressures dissuading critical journalism.

“We want the Gambian government to know that Freedom Newspaper is not anti-government. All we want is equal rights, respect for law and human rights, and good governance. If that means being unpatriotic then so be it,” said M’Bai.

This article can be accessed at this link:  www.rap21.org