PM, Head of IPI host media briefing Wednesday; criminal libel likely on agenda

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will host a joint media conference on Wednesday with Alison Bethel McKenzie, Executive Director of the International Press Institute (IPI), which is based in Austria.

Also attending the briefing would be Kiran Maharaj, President of the Trinidad & Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association and Wesley Gibbings, President of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers.

The event is scheduled for the PM's office in St Clair, beginning at 2:30pm.

On Monday, Bethel McKenzie met with Attorney General Anand Ramloganto discuss a broad range of matters concerning freedom of the press and to promote awareness for the upcoming World Press Freedom Day celebrated on May 3, 2013.

AG Anand Ramlogan and IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie

Their discussions focused on the abolition of criminal libel and the exemption of journalists from the Data Protection Act. They also discussed the need for journalists to protect their sources of information and to remain "outside the regular cut and thrust of adversarial political debate", a release from the AG's office said. The two also discussed recent developments in the local media. 

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