http://www.tntmirror.com/2011/10/28/bad-pressInternational publishers see threat in T&T Govt plan to muzzle mediaTHE Inter-American Press Association has listed Trinidad and Tobago on a list of countries attempting to manipulate the media in the region.
IAPA, a grouping of North American, Latin American and Caribbean publishers, issued a report after its biennial meeting in Lima Peru last week and named Trinidad and Tobago among the countries headed by Venezuela where freedom of the press is under threat.
The TnT Mirror has complained by letter dated July 25, 2011 to Foreign Affairs and Communication Minister Dr. Suruj Rambachan and copied to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, of an advertising boycott imposed by the Government and implemented across State agencies, which seeks to punish the TnT Mirror Group following several investigative stories published by the Mirror newspapers.
The letter advised Rambachan and Persad-Bissessar that the boycott was a violation of the Declaration of Chapultepec signed by T&T in September 2003 and also contravened the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press and the right to equality of treatment.
Rambachan in response to the complaint did not deny that Government had instituted a boycott but simply informed Mirror publisher Maxie Cuffie that “the contents of your letter are duly noted.”
The issue was taken up by IAPA at its meeting last week in Peru and the organisation has issued a statement expressing concern at the developments in Trinidad and Tobago and the region.
“Use of official advertising to reward or punish news media and government takeovers of media continue in several parts of the Americas to be powerful weapons used to hinder the free flow of information,” IAPA said on winding up its 67th General Assembly held last week in Lima, Peru.
“In Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela and some countries in the Caribbean, such as Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, the authorities seek to manipulate information and opinions disseminated by the press by using placement of official advertising to reward or punish,” IAPA said.
The IAPA further said that governments have constructed a parallel network of state-owned and government-supporting media that mount campaigns to discredit the independent press.
Two weeks ago the Express reported that University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus students were being recruited and paid with offers of free BlackBerry smart phones to comment positively on the Government on newspaper and other popular blogs and to counteract any negative criticisms from readers.
Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has also floated the idea of passing laws to monitor the use of Facebook and other social networking sites, while only last week Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Minister Fazal Karim suggested that there may be a need to license journalists to improve the quality of reporting in the country. He has since backtracked on the statement, saying the recommendation was meant to cover media technicians and not journalists.
Three weeks ago, the Government Information Services Limited (GISL) also imposed new restrictions on access to photos of Government events, mainly published by the Mirror, to restrict usage. News organisations are now required to e-mail GISL with a request for the photos which are to be used and await a response when GISL will e-mail copies of the photos if it approves usage.
The Government already controls two television stations in GISL Channel 4 and CNMG’s Channel 6, but both, like the Government’s three radio stations, have seen a significant drop in audience since the PP administration’s attempt to manipulate media content with actions like the firing of talk show host Fazeer Mohammed. This has forced the Government to attempt to manipulate the more popular media.
IAPA has expressed concern at the trend, which is said to be growing in Latin America.
“In Ecuador the government has become the owner of a large number of news media outlets. The same is occurring in Argentina, Venezuela and Nicaragua, where the numbers of government-run news media are expanding without limit. In the latter country in addition to several radio stations, Web sites and five television channels there are plans to set up a second UHF television channel, TV 47.
“The government in Venezuela has purchased or set up news media while keeping more than 30 radio stations and privately-owned television channels shut down.”
The People’s Partnership and Guyana’s People’s Progressive Party both share the same communications adviser, Guyanese national Ernie Ross. The Guyanese Government recently attempted to shut a popular privately owned television station, CNS TV 6, for eight months but was forced to back down under regional pressure. Ross, whose firm advises the Government of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, last week took full-page advertisements in the local media defending Guyana’s decision to shut down the station.
