Can the press be relied upon to be the impartial arbiter it ought to be in the upcoming election? With editors salivating at the expectation of mudslinging, something which typically occurs between politicians, it is very easy for editors to take the easy path and promote headlines that scream allegations about corruption, and other exposes.
However, the press cannot say that we are just the messenger, they also have an important role to play in the decorum expected in society. Unless the two major media organisations, Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (Matt) and Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA), provide some guidelines to their members about what constitutes non-inflammatory headlines and stories, they too will remain part of the problem during the upcoming election, and we can expect incendiary headlines to be the spark that can ignite already inflamed passions.
For example: now that the election date has been announced by the Prime Minister, and the opposition, according to them, is “ready to rumble,” the electorate has been bombarded with stories of a continuance of the same old conduct that has been proliferating over the last few months?
Recently, Jack Warner has accused the PP Government of everything from corruption to racism; this week, he even accused the Prime Minister of being involved in a cover-up of ganja found on her property in 2013.
The PP Government, in their weekly propaganda paper, Voice Today, ridiculed Warner by calling him a Robin Hood with a twist, who, instead of stealing from the rich to help the poor, he stole instead from the poor Haitian people, allegedly pocketing US$750,000 that Fifa donated in the wake of the 2010 earthquake; and Dr Keith Rowley has accused members of the PP Government, in the Emailgate affair, to an attempt at intimidating a journalist, section 34 misdeeds, and other unfounded allegations, that, even though he all but admitted that the emails were fake, the opposition leader still insisted that the allegations spelled out in the fake emails should be investigated by the police.
Some in the press have produced headlines and stories that make these seem like facts instead of allegations. Last year, when some of the leading civil society organisations came together to develop a code of ethics for political parties, for a moment, with all parties signing the code, the nation breathed a sigh of relief.
All parties agreed to abide by the code that promoted elections free from “interference, fear, intimidation or bribery;” “publicly disassociate themselves from criminal elements and criminal activity;” “Confine their criticism of other political parties to the policies and programmes, past record and work;” “Commit, while acknowledging each other’s past and present errors and prejudices, to supporting one another in a common effort to overcome selfishness and arrogance, hatred and violence.”
Clearly, all the parties, specifically the PP, PNM, and the ILP, all signatories to the code, have not abided by the major code elements that they agreed to. And they never will, unless the committee who developed the code had the power to apply some punitive measures to anyone breaking their word of unconditionally honouring the code —no exceptions, no excuses.
Furthermore, the press should also be held to a similar code of ethics, where they will be held to a high standard of ethical behaviour. Recently, a Government minister spoke about controlling tabloid journalism. Neither the media nor the public wants government involvement in dictating press policy.
If that happens, the press will raise a hue and cry bemoaning that freedom of the press was being infringed, and our international rating as a nation that upholds its own Constitution that protects a free press will suffer.
Rex Chookolingo,
Maraval