The One-day Forum brought together 12 editors from various media houses including newspapers, community radio stations, private radio and television stations, the state media and online media editors as well as media trainers from the GPU.
The Vice - President of the GPU, Isatou Kieta, in her address of welcome said that the GPU under the INFORMA Project held three in- country training programmes in three different regions in The Gambia that were geared towards improving media reports on migration; understanding of migration issues as key players in influencing public opinion and decision-making; raise awareness and trigger reflection on the effects of irregular migration on the lives of individuals, families and communities; and to promote quality journalism on migration reporting with a professional and ethical approach.
The national forum with the editors, she added, will provide an opportunity to editors to identify possible interventions on migration reporting in The Gambia as well as identifying constraints and providing recommendations on how to enhance migration reporting in the Gambia in a more positive way.
The Managing Director of the Media Academy for Journalism and Communication (MAJaC), Sang Wisdom Mendy said that according to their statistics, newspapers in The Gambia on average publish 2000 stories a year. '. This means 3,000 national news stories in eighteen months'. This also indicates that the top three daily newspapers cumulatively published about 9,000 national news stories over the past 18 months. Of the total number of stories published, just about 1.7% (exactly 1.66) was on migration and migration related issues. The situation of the print media is nothing different from the broadcast media - radio and TV.
He emphasised that there is a need for proactive commitment from The Gambian media to increase the number of migration stories. 'From the above statistics, we can clearly see that media outlets do not cover migration as a topic continuously. The issue of migration in The Gambia is highly publicised when incidents occur, such as interceptions along the Atlantic coast, tragic shipwrecks or disappearances of migrants. Almost 90% of the stories published within this period were reactive, they were published in reaction to an event.
The Director of the IFJ Africa Office, Pa Louis Thomasi in his statement said that migration in the Gambia as in many countries in the West African sub- region is highly under reported. The media, he said, has a critical role to play in the fight against xenophobia and discrimination of migrants. 'The media must debunk the negative stereotypes that are associated with migrants which increase their vulnerability to abuse most especially women migrants. Migration reports are not only about the disasters that inundate our newspapers and radio stations, we must be able to report on the positive aspect of migration as most families in the Gambia are supported by migrants.
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The one day national forum recommended that the Gambian media must treat migration as a top priority and ensure that migration reports are more positive by dispelling all forms of disinformation on migration. The national forum also recommended that media houses should establish Migration Desk while stressing that the journalists who report on migration need to be trained and where possible specialise on migration reporting. While partnership and collaboration was also recommended between media houses and journalists reporting on migration, the national forum also noted that stakeholders must help in providing necessary financial resources to help media houses in developing programmes on migration.
