The Privileges Committee of the House of Representatives has found Newsday reporter Andre Bagoo guilty of contempt and recommended that the journalist be banned from Parliament for the rest of the current session which ends on December 16.The matter arose from after the government claimed was the publication of the proceedings of the committee before the Committee reported to the House.
The article stated that the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago, which had been referred to the Privileges Committee for alleged contempt arising out of a complaint made by Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh, had planned to concede on the contempt charge and had decided to issue an apology.
The PNM-dominated committee pointed out that Parliamentary prohibit the publication of proceedings of and evidence taken before any Select Committee, or any document presented to it, before the committee has presented its report to the House.
The committee also recommended that the Newsday publish an apology to the House, giving it the same prominence as the offending story.
The committee also warned other journalists of the consequences of breaching Parliamentary rules and urged the media to conduct appropriate training for their Parliamentary to ensure that they are familiar with the Standing Orders, especially those concerning the covering of the proceedings of Parliament.
Opposition members of the committee - Dr Roodal Moonilal, Dr Tim Gopeesingh and Kamla Persad-Bissessar - submitted a minority report stating that they disagreed with the decision to ban a working journalist from Parliament.
Their report noted that the newspaper had assumed blame, taken full responsibility for the actions of the journalist and offered an apology.
They stated further that the newspaper's editor-in-chief had already admitted overall responsibility and took full blame for the breach of the Parliamentary rules.
They said if the Parliament accepts the recommendation it would be seen as "authoritarian, dictatorial and contrary to the fundamental right of freedom of the press enshrined in the Constitution".
They also challenged the committee's jurisdiction that to permit the Parliament "to alter the contract of employment between the employer and worker, since banning the journalist can amount to a suspension of his duties".
They called the recommendation "a denial of the ’fundamental right to work and the right to property".
The Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) has also reacted strongly to the decision. MATT admitted that the newspaper breached the Standing Orders of Parliament.
However it said the punishment was "unjustifiably harsh and highly unusual" and noted that in previous cases an apology is almost invariably good enough to prevent further action taken.
MATT endorsed the opposition members' minority report and urged the House to reject either the entire report or at least the recommendation for banning the journalist.
Two TV journalists are also before the committee and MATT says it is waiting the decision on their matter.
"MATT notes with grave concern that a pattern may be emerging of attempted intimidation, by way of the Privileges Committee, of journalists whose reporting may have embarrassed or offended the Government," it said.
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