African Media Icon, Babacar Touré dies in Dakar at 69
He was Senegal’s National Audiovisual Regulatory Council CEO from 2012 to 2018 and permanent Chairman of the Sud Communication Group. Following a long illness, he passed away on July 2020, in Dakar after spending more than 30 years at the service of the broadcasting industry in Africa.
In the Senegalese press milieu, everyone agrees that Babacar Touré was a man of experience. This is evidenced by the many messages of gratitude and recognition that swamped the web since the death of the famous journalist. "He was a monument in the field of communication, a good and calm man, may Allah the Almighty welcome him to his blessed eternal paradise," said Abib Dieng, an executive staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Senegal has lost a monument. This man has been involved in almost all successful mediations in Senegal and the sub-region, without making any noise " Mansour Seck, a student at the University of Paris II Panthéon Assas wrote.
El Hassane Paul Sidibe, an executive staff at la Francophonie University Agency remembers the deceased in these terms: “I still have in mind the interview granted to me in 1980, as president of the Association of Interns and Former Interns at Le Soleil daily newspaper. May his soul rest in eternal peace ".
President Macky Sall’s condolence message
In his condolence message to the entire communication family, President Macky Sall praised the professional qualities of this icon: "Seasoned journalist and pioneer in the media industry and the training of journalists, man of consensus and dialogue, Babacar Touré has been involved in all the fights for freedom and democracy. To his family, the Sud Communication Group and the press, I present my heartfelt condolences. "
Profile
Babacar Touré was born in 1951. In 1979, he graduated from the Cheikh Anta Diop University School of Journalism- CESTI and joined Le Soleil Daily. Later, he obtained a scholarship to study in the United States, and then he went to strengthen his capacities at the French Press Institute, at the Uquam Center for the Development of African Communicators, at Michigan State University and at Kansas State University. Back in Senegal, he worked for the Enda Third-World NGO.
In 1986, Babacar Touré founded with his former colleagues from Le Soleil, Abdoulaye Ndiaga Sylla, Ibrahima Fall and Sidy Gayede, the Sud Hebdo newspaper, which was renamed Sud Quotidien, in 1993. He became the chairman and CEO of Sud Communication, a group which also included Sud FM, in from 1994 the first private radio station in Senegal, then a private television channel, LCA, based in France. In the same vein, he took over the Higher Institute of Information and Communication Sciences (Issic), in Dakar.
Babacar Touré was a founding member of the National Union of Information and Communication Professionals in Senegal (Unpics), which later became the Syndicate of Information and Communication Professionals of Senegal (Synpics).
He was a member of the Economic and Social Council (Ces) of Senegal; the office of the National Confederation of Employers of Senegal (Cnes); the Midwest Sociology Society, Iowa); the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI-USA); the PANOS Institute as well as the World Bank College of African Advisers.
In November 2012, he was appointed president of the National Audiovisual Regulatory Council (Cnra), replacing Nancy Ngom Ndiaye.
After a recess in newsrooms, BT recently took up the "pilgrim's stick" by enlivening a slot dubbed "Past-present" in Sud Quotidien for the good of his fans left orphaned.
