My Only Regret with Le Quotidien, in 20 years

Dear reader, dear friend,

The newspaper between your hands is twenty years old today. The adventure began on 24 February 2003. On that day, I addressed you in the second person singular, betting on proximity, familiarity, constancy and duration. Twenty years is the consecration of adulthood, but it is above all the moment when the impulse for great achievements of a life must be effective.

I would like to express my gratitude for your loyalty, your support and above all the ever-increasing confidence that you continue to bring to this newspaper. Our team will strive to earn more of the trust of its readers and advertisers. This is the place to congratulate all of our employees and show them our gratitude. Le Quotidien spirit, Le Quotidien family, we say, has remained, despite the vicissitudes of life, the difficulties of an ever more precarious media environment. But we are proud to be able to say that we have succeeded in our challenge of raising the bar, not only to strengthen the media offer with a quality newspaper, which has become a reference newspaper, but also the social and working conditions of our employees are enviable.

Once again, having seen everything that this adventure is and remains, from the genesis of the project to its positioning as one of the references in Senegal and Africa, I can only salute the journey and praise all the people who have contributed to making this newspaper what it is. When we started out, many predicted a bleak future and an impossible survival in one of the most difficult sectors of activity. After more than 6,000 published editions and twenty years of fulfilling our initial commitments to our readers, I cannot help but return to what makes Le Quotidien special and what makes this spirit which, despite the passage of time, allows us to remain on our feet as a faithful witness to the news and history of Senegal, day by day.

Le Quotidien is a spirit of constancy, freedom, commitment, courage, respect for difference and promotion of ideas. We have been able to set up an editorial staff where all the contributors are driven by an obligation to inform fairly and truthfully, whatever the cost. There can be no shortage of trials of intention, a priori and slander when one chooses this path of truth and objective journalism based on the facts, with commentary made of lucidity and without complacency.All those who have worked or are currently working for Le Quotidien can testify to this spirit of freedom and democracy within the paper, which is reflected in the freedom of tone of our articles. I will probably never say it enough: none of my colleagues can say that they have been manipulated or instructed by the newspaper’s boss to write for or against any person, group or persuasion. Let everyone know this! I have never hidden behind the signature of one of my journalists. If I have something to say, I write and sign it myself.

I can say that Le Quotidien, in two decades, is a privileged witness to the living history of Senegal. It has addressed all the major changes in our country, shed light on many subjects of interest, giving a voice to all sections of our society and carried a certain idea of Senegal everywhere. It is a title that has made itself an unwavering ally of truth and democracy, in the face of all forms of adversity. It is a newspaper that has never ceased to fight for the well-being and a better national development. The path may have been difficult, but we can only be proud to see it high and constant in its original spirit.If we have been able to keep a lookout for the Republic and democracy, it is from confidence drawn from our readers and from a full measure of the importance of our role in the running of our country.

After twenty years, if I can express one regret, it is surely the delay in the digitisation of this newspaper, with the offer of an entirely digital editorial staff. The bet from the start in 2003 was to be present in newsstands and online. It was a success with a newspaper that appeared on the internet at the same time as it was sold in the streets. A project, which some had considered too ambitious or even pretentious, was intended, in the face of changes in the press, to have to daily embrace total digitisation with a web TV and a digital newsroom, from the first day of its publication.

The opposition of some members of the editorial staff on the basis of trade union demands prevented this initiative. They considered that this would mean double work, double jobs and therefore double pay. We could not afford this luxury, and we let them know. History has ended up catching up with the media to make it clear that the panacea, to keep the media viable and strong, remains to turn to digital; what I proposed twenty years ago… We would have been more actively involved in this niche, almost before anyone else in Senegal, that we would have taken a good lead! Unfortunately, our will had fallen through and subsequently, content aggregator sites emerged in the Senegalese and African media landscape, making the content of this newspaper one of their elements of notoriety.

We could say that we had missed a turn, but there is no lack of resources, ambition and energy to fill the gap. This, in the spirit of providing quality journalism, responsible journalism, truthful journalism, to our readers everywhere and contributing in our own way to the construction of our country.

We did not succeed in everything. Le Quotidien had launched the initiative of a Sunday edition, a first in Senegal, but the experiment lasted only one year, because the newspaper sellers were not very enthusiastic about working that day, especially since they had only one title to distribute. Our desire to diversify, our ambition, had also pushed us to launch other titles and a radio station, which ended up being swept away by hostile acts of political powers, but also by serious shortcomings in management. We’ve landed on our feet every time, dedicating ourselves to saving the flagship, Le Quotidien. Happy birthday to you! A promise: the best is yet to come! A pious thought for former collaborators who have passed away: Ibrahima Sakho, Koudédia Mar, Pa André Diouf, Grand Birane Gning, Soro Diop, Ndèye Fatou Diop.

By Madiambal DIAGNE / mdiagne@lequotidien.sn

• Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH / Serigne S. DIAGNE

 

L’article My Only Regret with Le Quotidien, in 20 years est apparu en premier sur Lequotidien - Journal d'information Générale.

from Lequotidien – Journal d'information Générale https://ift.tt/BT9jkoE