Free radio

“So long as we can call (sic) get fired, Radio will never be free.”

So went the anonymous e-mail message I received last night. Did the sender of this message so desperately need to vent his/her feelings about Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s visit to radio station 94.1 FM that any Trinidad and Tobago-identified entity with the word “radio” in its name sufficed as a target? Or could it be that he/she thinks CFR is a radio station? Or perhaps a warning that I should expect a visit from the PM some time soon?

I’m also wondering what, apart from temporary stress-relief, this person expected to achieve by sending me the message, and, moreover, in a manner (ie via anonymous remailer) that did not permit me to respond, or, even better, enter into dialogue with him/her. Unless he knew I would write this blog post, which, given my recent record, would be way against the odds.

But I agree that the day a Prime Minister pays a visit to a media company that results–either directly or indirectly–in two people being suspended from their jobs, is a sombre day indeed for those who work in what has come to be known as the mainstream media. And when that same Prime Minister declares, in a post-Cabinet news conference, that he was well within his rights to visit the radio station, denies any connection between his visit to the station and the suspension of the employees, announces his intention to sue the TNT Mirror for their report on the incident, asserts his right to “sue any media house whose reporting aggrieves him” and to “visit any offending media house ‘as the spirit moves [him]‘”, who can blame the citizens of the country for feeling that freedom of expression–indeed, democracy–in Trinidad and Tobago is under serious threat?

For those unfamiliar with the details of the radio station visit, here’s the version of the story circulated by the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT):

MATT received reports of an incident involving Prime Minister Patrick Manning at the Abercromby Street, Port of Spain, offices of Power 102 and 94.1 FM.

The association contacted the station’s Vice-President of Operations O’Brien Haynes, who confirmed the Prime Minister had visited the station on October 25 to express his displeasure at the contents of the station’s 12:25 pm newscast. He described the Prime Minister’s demeanour as calm and cool.

Mr Haynes said the Prime Minister expressed concerns about crosstalk during the newscast on statements he made at Thick Village with regard to the increase in the price of premium gas and drivers converting from diesel to CNG.

The Vice-President said after an internal investigation it was agreed by management at the station that a newscaster and presenter were in breach of programming protocol. Mr Haynes added the employees were suspended.

Perhaps even more offensive than his threats are Mr. Manning’s efforts to shroud the clearly personal reasons for his beef with the media in the sheep’s clothing of officialdom. “Too many of the commentators either in the newspapers or on the radio do not respect our institutions,” he is reported as saying. “It is a question of being disrespectful to institutions and authority and pursuing a course of action that can cause the image of these institutions and individuals to be tarnished in the minds of those in whose interest they are set up to serve. And therefore they can become completely ineffective.”

Which I take to mean that our “institutions” are so feeble as to be rendered ineffective by the fact that the public thinks they’re not doing their job. And of course the reason the public thinks this they’re not doing their job is solely because the media tells them so, not because members of the public have dealings with these institutions and draw conclusions themselves. In addition to the impending suspension of our right to freedom of expression, should I also be bracing myself for the announcement that thoughtcrime has been added to the list of criminal offenses? Now there’s something that would aggrieve me.

People finding themselves in Mr. Manning’s situation are also fond of falling back on the old line about rights not being absolute. “They exist,” he said yesterday, “to the extent that they don’t encroach upon the rights of others, and if my rights are trampled in that process then I too have redress under the law.” Today MATT issued the following press release in response to the comments made by the Prime Minister in yesterday’s post-cabinet meeting, reminding us what those rights are:

Freedom of speech is enshrined in Section 4 of the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago. The Media Association takes this opportunity to remind its members and all members of the population that we have a responsibility and right to comment on the actions of public officials and issues of national importance.

While we agree Mr. Patrick Manning has the same rights as any other citizen, a prime minister has greater power, which should be exercised in the public interest, with due care and responsibility.

MATT notes it is not the first time, nor will it be the last time, a prime minister has taken issue with a media house. Mr. Manning has every right to consult his lawyers whenever he feels aggrieved.

The association notes that in the Privy Council’s 1936 ruling in the Ambard case, Lord Atkin said, “The path of criticism is an open way: the wrongheaded are permitted to err therein.”

With regard to the Prime Minister’s statement that “expecting redress from the media is asking too much,” MATT begs to differ. Individual media houses have mechanisms for dealing with such matters and members of the public are also free to ask the Media Complaints Council to intervene if they are not satisfied.

MATT maintains its position that the Prime Minister’s visit to 94.1fm was inappropriate and unnecessary.

Well done, MATT. But let us keep talking about this. Let us not take this sitting down. Let the media also harness its power to help the citizens of this 46 year-old quasi-democracy internalise the idea that the right to free speech is as precious as the right to wine, and that it is in fact a “gateway” right to other critical rights.

Mr. Manning is also free to visit Caribbean Free Radio at any time the spirit moves him.

5 Comments so far
Leave a comment








Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Name (required)

E-mail (required)

URI

Your Comment