M.B. Jones: Fearless newspaper as an indispensable tool for progress

54 years on this May, M.B. Jones’s strong editorial statement is still relevant in today’s Gambia, a developing country where a small independent press is stifled.
taken by משתמש:Hmbr (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“A fearless, outspoken, unbiased newspaper is not only a desideratum to a backward and underdeveloped nation, but an indispensable tool for progress,” Gambian journalist Melville Benoni Jones wrote in an editorial in the Outlook on May 3, 1960.

Historical chronicles about Mr Jones writing and journalism has shown him to be radical and an activist journalist who wrote with authority.

In a recent account, a Gambian historian described him as having combined “crusading journalism with militant politics and trade unionism to challenge British colonial rule.”

But what did the man popularly known as “M.B. Jones”, whose work pre and post colonialism included the fight for a free and independent press, meant by (a fearless, outspoken, unbiased newspaper… indispensable tool for progress)?