Manning: TT a centre for journalistic excellence

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning predicted that Trinidad and Tobago will become the centre of journalistic excellence in the Commonwealth through the establishment of  “a centre for training, thought and development of journalism” at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine campus. Addressing yesterday’s opening of the Caribbean Media Conference at the UWI Learning Resource Centre, the Prime Minister disclosed that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between UWI and the Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) to establish an interim programme in journalism at UWI as a precursor to the centre’s establishment.

“I am grateful to both the UWI and CJA for recognising and acting on the recognition that there is perhaps an urgent and pressing need for training in the field of journalism and perhaps, as it is said in literary circles, that all is not well in the state of Denmark. Indeed, it is the opinion of some that all is not well with journalism in TT, “ Manning said. Manning hailed the CJA’s decision to relocate its headquarters from London to TT. “A key factor informing the CJA’s choice of TT as its headquarters is the high level of press freedom enjoyed in this country. Here in TT, our journalists enjoy a level of press freedom that one suspects, could easily make them the envy of so many of their colleagues in democratic countries around the world, far less those operating under oppressive regimes and in oppressive states,” he declared. 

The Prime Minister added that it was Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon who stressed in 2003 that “the media plays a central role in any society as a force for democratic progress,” but he advised that “it should not in that context, or in any other, serve as a ringing or even pale endorsement of so much that is often wrong in the practise of journalism.” CJA president Hassan Shahriar disclosed that the association received offers from nations such as Bangladesh and Nigeria to relocate their headquarters there.

He explained that TT was chosen because the CJA wanted to remove the stigma that everything associated with the Commonwealth must be based in Britain. Shahriar said the MOU was the result of nine months of deliberations between UWI and the CJA, with the vision being “for a centre of excellence in journalism.” UWI Principal Dr Bhoe Tewarie urged journalists to demonstrate objective analysis and critical thinking and not be obsessed with the rush of breaking a story first. He said while a free press lay at the core of equitable treatment in any society “an invasion of privacy cannot be justified on the need that the public has a right to know.” “Journalists must take their job seriously. Journalists must establish their own code of conduct,” Tewarie declared.