Dookeran was speaking at a luncheon to announce the opening of his Congress of the People's (COP) Port of Spain office on Saturday from where he hopes to expand the party's influence across the East West Corridor.
He made reference to comments by former American Vice President Al Gore who spoke about the danger of a society hindered by fear.
Dookeran noted that Gore's thesis that fear diverts attention from the real threats in a society and generates confusion about the essential choices that every nation must constantly make about it future is valid in Trinidad and Tobago today.
"That is our challenge as a new political party. That is the nation’s challenge as it seeks to find a rational choice for its future," Dookeran said.
He said the media have their right to freedom and demanded that no one should ever try to take away those rights. However he said the right to press freedom comes with a sense of social responsibility.
Dookeran spoke about the media's role as guardians of democracy and put the responsibility of his own party in that context.
"Our public duty is to provide choice to our people so that they can in a rational atmosphere make a decision that they can feel satisfied about for the future of ourselves and our children," Dookeran said.
The COP leader said that's why the party is establishing its "political space" in the nation's capital to reflect "the permanence of the Congress of the People".
He added, "We are not in the capital city by mistake or by design, we are here because it is our duty to stand up and to stand up to offer an atmosphere of reason and a choice for the future based on that reason."
He conceded that the task ahead is a difficult one and appealed to the media to do its duty without fear or favour because they have an important role to play in the shaping of the choices facing the country.
"It requires the exercising of your rights in an unfettered way. It requires a sense of responsibility to so do. This I know will be a charge and a challenge that you will be able to undertake," he said.
Dookeran said one of the basic premises on which he wants to build the COP's public discourse is the recognition that everyone must stand together to build an enduring a relationship based on equality.
"This is a fundamental departure for the politics of the past and that is the challenge we have a political party," he said.
He said COP also wants to deepen the political conversation in a meaningful way instead of dealing with the superficial aspect of political life. He said COP wants to engage people from all walks of life through public meetings, discussions in the homes, in the villages, in the schools, in the work places.
He suggested that what he wants to do is really mirror the role and the responsibility of the mainstream media, to explain the important national issues so that citizens could make rational choices about their lives.
"We intend...to undertake that with a sense of truth. And to that end, your presence here today is an acknowledgement of the important partnership we expect the media to have not only with us but with all contenders in this field but more importantly, with the people of Trinidad and Tobago," he said.
He urged the media to "predicate your responsibility...on the basis of the search for truth on policy matters." He appealed for objectivity and respect for each other’s specific role and specific duties.
"As a nation, we must not allow ourselves to surrender our freedom in the name of security or to the politics of fear."
He warned of the consequences, pointing to the fear generated in the United States in the post 9-11 period and the unnecessary invasion of Iraq.
"We know that there are many definitions of truth and we know that there is a fertile debate that must always take place. It is not for me to decide the truth, it is not for you to decide the truth, it is for you to report the news and it is for me to offer the choices, it is for the people to decide what they see as the truth," he said.
He cautioned the media to guard against becoming sidetracked in supporting the "politics of falsehood or the politics of fear in preference to the politics of reason and the politics of determination".
He promised that COP will always be open to deep dialogue with all others who share its objectives of nation building. "This is not a closed-shop party; this is a party of open doors," he said
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