TT government wants no war with media

Information Minister Neil Parsanlal has dismissed charges that the Trinidad and Tobago government is anti-media, adding that the Manning administration has no desire to go to war with media organizations and reporters.

"The government needs the media as much as it needs the government," Parsanlal said in commenting about the raging national controversy over Prime Minister Patrick Manning's visit to a radio station to complain about what he considered unprofessional conduct by two broadcasters. Both were subsequently suspended.

The journalist-turned-politician said there is no desire to draw a line in the sand with the media. Parsanlal said when Manning went to the radio station he was exercising one of several options that were available.

The country's two main umbrella organizations for the media have criticized Manning, saying by going to the radio station personally he was sending an intimidating signal that threatened media freedom. Politicians, independent commentators and private citizens have also said Manning should have used other options to complain.

But Manning disagrees. Last week he insisted that he had a right to go to the radio station and served notice that he is prepared to take on the media in court if he is "aggrieved by anything the media does in the future". Manning also said not one of the media houses in the country is "pro-government".

Parsanlal explained that the administration is not asking and does not expect "any media house to adopt a pro-Government position." He said, "All the government is seeking, or all the government desires is balanced coverage or fair or accurate reporting and balanced coverage."

He said while there are some "excellent journalists" in the country and media are "striving for excellence" there are "quite a few instances of...shoddy journalism."

But he didn't go as far as his cabinet colleague, Conrad Enill who said Trinidad and Tobago's journalism is the worst in the world.

"I will not go so far as to say that the news reporting in Trinidad and Tobago or the media in Trinidad and Tobago is the worst anybody has ever seen," he said. "There is a quest in a number of areas to get it first and get it fast and that is almost a derivative of the competition that exists among all the media houses today."