After the exclusion of her media from the list of the Ministry of Communication, Maïmouna Ndour Faye brandishes the evidence attesting to the legality of her press organs. 

The CEO of 3M Universel is furious after the exclusion of her organs from the list of media provisionally recognized by the State. Despite the Cdeps press conference in which she participated on Tuesday, Maïmouna Ndour Faye provided additional clarification to national and international opinion to re-establish the « truth ». « I felt I had to speak out to call on national and international opinion, and especially the Senegalese who have always supported me, to witness. I spoke yesterday (Tuesday) at the Cdeps press conference. I did not want to dominate the debates. I am speaking out today (yesterday) out of a duty to tell the truth, in order to give the Senegalese all the information in my possession that could separate the truth from the chaff and also put an end to this vain attempt to manipulate national and international public opinion, » said the director of 7Tv.

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According to her, “3M Universel was created in December 2012 under the name of a sole proprietorship. In 2017, we changed the name of 3M Universel. The company became a unilateral limited liability company. This change was recorded before a notary. I have all the information and all the documents relating to it. I have kept all the documents that can justify the legality of our platforms,” she said.

Mrs. Faye explained the genesis of her press group. “3M Universel was an audiovisual communication agency. The Azactu web TV is the first online site that set up an editorial team that equipped itself with production resources and brought about a change in the way of doing this job. In 2018, precisely in March, the 7Tv television was launched. All the legal procedures relating to the establishment of an online media or a television were respected. Authorizations obtained not without difficulty or conciliable. We exercise our profession in complete legality, contrary to what they want to make the national public believe,” she indicated.

The absence of her company from the list of recognized media is a bitter pill to swallow for her. “We cannot and should not be on a list of non-compliant media. We registered on the platform put online by the Minister of Communication. The process of our registration was validated by an email sent by the technical services of the Ministry of Communication. We provided all the required documents. We checked all the boxes. Today, we hold all the authorizations that must establish the legal basis for the operation of our audio-visual media 7Tv and Azactu.

We protest against this approach. We have the right to feel hurt, offended in our professional dignity. Because how can we offend the dignity of a media outlet run by information and communication professionals, media outlets that have a street presence, identified and listed by the authorized state bodies? How can we push into a position of justification and non-conformity, media outlets run by people who have the legitimacy and competence to exercise this profession? And, at the same time, we grant the discharge to exercise a profession to non-professionals or to individuals who have neither the legitimacy, nor the competence, nor the right », said an indignant Ms. Faye. She continued: « I cannot remain silent and accept my fate when the information about the exclusion of my media, appearing on the platforms of the Ministry of Communication, was reported and spread by well-identified lobbyists. The Ministry was informed of this. I cannot remain silent because my professional integrity and that of the media that I founded are being called into question with the sole aim of making us appear as lawless town criers. The Ministry of Communication could have, in the interests of fairness and transparency, requested additional documents to form an opinion on their compliance, as it did with other media. This would have spared us these debates and this problem that we are faced with today. »

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For now, she is waiting for notifications from the Ministry of Communication on the criticisms made against her company. Maïmouna Ndour Faye, who is not opposed to the organization of the sector, says she has sent all the documents to the supervisory authority. « I encourage its cleaning-up. We, the professionals, will be the first beneficiaries. But we cannot accept that the process be launched without consultation with players in the media sector and with the Cdeps which represents employers in this sector. »
By Justin GOMIS / justin@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH