TT press freedom bad under UNC

EVEN AS Barataria/San Juan MP Dr Fuad Khan said the UNC will “marshal our troops to the defence of the media,” an international organisation reminded him that the former Government’s track record on press freedom in Trinidad and Tobago was nothing to be proud about.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Patrick Manning criticised certain sections of the media for inaccurate reporting of recent events involving himself and the Government. In a statement yesterday, Khan criticised the Prime Minister’s statement. “Freedom of speech and the ability of the media to express varying views is the cornerstone of any democracy. Any attempt to stifle this process can be easily seen as a means to limiting our freedoms, rights and responsibilities which are clearly spelt out in the constitution of the Republic of TT,” he declared. However the international organisation World Audit said the gravest transgressions against the media were committed during the six years of the UNC Government. World Audit brings together statistics and reports from highly respected global watchdog agencies such as Freedom House, Transparency International, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and The International Commission of Jurists on issues ranging from political rights to press freedom. 

The group’s latest World Democracy Audit notes that since the PNM returned to office in 2001, Manning “has observed a hands-off policy regarding the media in contrast to his predecessor, Basdeo Panday, who vehemently criticised the media during his tenure from 1995 to 2001.” The Audit further notes that in September 2002, Manning signed the Declaration of Chapultepec in Peru which brought TT into “a new era of press freedom.” “Former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday had refused to sign the agreement because of what he called the media’s dissemination of lies, half-truths, and innuendos,” the Audit stated. The Audit concluded that TT’s constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press and “the Government generally respects this right in practice.”