Jack’s ‘buying’ of Newsday a red herring

The media association has said it is concerned that Minister Jack Warner is interested in buying the Newsday/Mirror. It is concerned with Mr Warner’s connections with the current administration and the fallout this will have on journalistic impartiality and independence. Well, the association has not commented before, but a huge chunk of the same Newsday, some 40 per cent, is controlled by partisan shareholders, not of Minister’s Warner persuasion. This is also common knowledge. They are in fact owned by a functionary at many levels in the PNM and a long-time campaign manager for a sitting MP, and a person whose son was a minister in the last PNM government.

These partisan shareholders, on many occasions while I was CEO of Newsday, tried to influence stories in their favour. It is to the credit of the Editor in Chief, Therese Mills, that this was not allowed. This “sell-out offer” to Mr Warner is more than likely a red herring since Newsday’s largest shareholder (Choko Holdings) cannot get the financial reports for the past two years, having been out-manoeuvred by astute directors who have themselves made many offers to buy. Mr Warner says that any decision will be based on the financials of the company which are unavailable. Most of this is common knowledge in media circles. All this PNM conspiracy has been on-going for years and not a word from the Media Association. Suddenly a useless meeting with Jack Warner is of major concern to them.

Daniel Chookolingo
Founder and Former CEO