At a forum hosted by the Institute of Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies last Wednesday, Pennelope Beckles-Robinson, candidate for leadership of the PNM, told the audience that "the media does not cover you when you talk about policy." She went further to state that it "appears as though policies are not what they want to report about."
The issue that Ms Beckles-Robinson has raised is far more profound in relation to the society as a whole than just the media. The appetite for erudite discussion on policy choices and analysis is minimal in T&T society and that is, in many respects, a tragic reflection on the education system.
The clientele who buy newspapers and look at television shows are not enthused by the prospect of analysing policy choices and prescriptions. Media houses have to find creative ways to insert serious policy discussion into general reporting of the news in order to stay relevant and most of all, to stay alive.
In a society where, according to the Minister of Education in 2012, approximately 60 per cent of the secondary school population, on an annual basis, does not earn more than five subjects (mathematics and English included) at the CSEC examinations, the question must be asked what kind of consumer of news do the media have to contend with.
There has been a trend for some time that demonstrates that there is a healthy market for "bacchanal," blood, guts and gore. Any attempt to adopt analytical standards of inquiry into the niceties of policy options usually does not attract eyeballs to the media product because the appetites of the majority of the readers, listeners and viewers need something else to be whetted. There is enough data available to confirm this.
Ms Beckles-Robinson has hit upon a deeply relevant topic in the society, but she herself has also revealed the challenge that she faces in her own attempt to wrest the leadership of the party from Dr Rowley.She had a part of the answer in her remarks at the UWI forum last Wednesday when she said, "I don't know that they are going to say anything. That is not what is going to sell the newspapers."
There is a reality behind what she is saying, and she is aware of the challenge. Newspapers know what their circulation figures are like in relation to their content changes and stylistic alterations. Sensational journalism has a clear advantage over values-based journalism and educated discourse in this society. Any media house that has a mix of the foregoing products will know which one sells and which one does not.
Media houses can, however, provide analysis of policy options and other complex issues through their selection of columnists and television and radio discussion forums.Meanwhile, the fact that Ms Beckles-Robinson's comments, together with those of other panellists, were reported on a full page in the T&T Guardian last Thursday confirms that she is being heard.