Letter: Jack responds - The media and me

Jack Warner on TV Wednesday night

I note the concern now being expressed in some quarters about a perceived attack on the media by me for which nothing can be further from the truth since I never attacked the media. 

What I did was to expose what I rightfully considered the duplicitous and disingenuous behavior of one who works in the media and, in this particular case, the Express newspaper.

We have justifiable reason to be concerned about the media bias in the country among the conventional media.

We support a free press. And that situation has not changed and will never change under the present government. 

However we must make the point that FREEDOM of the Press is a right that the media enjoy on behalf of the people of Trinidad & Tobago. It is not a right for owners of the media to impose their personal views on an unsuspecting population so as to create their own agenda.

Freedom of the press carries with it a responsibility to be fair, to be responsible and to objectively and, as far as possible, accurately, mirror the society. 

By the same token journalists must keep more than an arms length from politicians and primary definers of society and they have an obligation to declare their relationships for the sake of fairness as is the norm in all first world countries.

In a democracy the citizens depend on a free media to inform them on a variety of activities not just those that are of interest to those who control the media. 

It is only through such a free marketplace of ideas as articulated in the media that citizens can make decisions. In the present environment, that is not happening. A content analysis of the main media in Trinidad &Tobago would show a narrow focus and either the inability or reluctance of journalists to ask and seek answers to relevant questions of national interest.

For the time being...............'nuff said

Jack Warner | Chairman, United National Congress