Our local media need a slap on the wrist. I'm so fed up of reading or hearing about politics, crime, murder and everything else that is bad with the country in the first ten pages of every newspaper. And I know it's news. I know it's the truth-well, some of it. But as a country, we need hope. We need a mind-set change. The media can help with that, massively. My theory is simple. If you wake up in the morning to sunlight pouring through your window and a great upbeat tune on your radio, automatically you smile. There's pep in your step. You'll find yourself humming as you shower and even dancing while you brush your teeth. Then you head to the kitchen for your breakfast ritual and there's the paper. Death. Crime. Fraud. Murder. Rape. The television's on and it's the same messaging. Where does all that positivity go? It goes where dead bodies go-six feet under any chance of your having a positive day. Why? Because the future seems bleak. You worry about your safety and the safety of your children. You worry about the country your children are growing up in, praying that they do not succumb to these ways and further add to the evil pool. Thing is, where there is bad there is good, and in T&T, we have plenty good. People who work hard and rise above the challenges that we face. Those who make a difference, come what may. Our unsung heroes. To me, these are the people who should be on the front page. Trinbagonians who still have faith to keep on keeping on, amid the signs flashing in neon telling them to jump ship and run for dear life. Surely there is one such story, or even five, that our newsrooms can source, so that we can read about this.
Imagine if you were in a relationship and every morning started with your partner listing one or many of your faults. How would that make you feel? To me it's the same for our country. If every morning all yuh hearing is negative, negative and more negative, you bound to not like the place. And it's not only the media, it's our citizens as well. Obsessed with the bacchanal. Which politician did what? How much money dey tief? Why this one is a failure and that one should get this ministry in the reshuffle. Are we that one-dimensional that all that we can blog/write/ comment about about is the ills of our country? Yuh know, if we were asked to be like that about ourselves, it would be a different story. My single women, the next time you go to a bar or club and gain the interest of a handsome, eligible bachelor you've had your eyes on for weeks, I want you to try this approach. Start listing your faults in the conversation as soon as you get over the salutations. Tell him how many times you've cheated on your previous boyfriends and that all you do is gossip with your girlfriends. Let him know how irresponsible you are with money, so you would be leaning on him for cash a lot. Be honest about all the times you've had unprotected sex and mention any abortions you may have had. Let him know that you will probably alienate him from his friends after the first six months, and football and video games will soon be things from his past. You feel you getting anywhere? Fellas, the same goes for you. We marketing the place badly, man. International investors and potential tourists are only going to get turned off when they read our headlines.
I'm not saying not to put those stories in our daily news concoction-just not at the front. Let the readers/viewers ease into it. Let their eyes settle on photos of the more picturesque sides of our twin-island paradise. The poui blossoming around the Savannah. ishermen pulling seine in Moruga. Children playing at a standpipe, having the times of their lives. Manatee in the Caroni swamp. Fresh fruit and vegetables on display at a market stall. There are so many things that we have going for us. Why we presenting the worst first? It's like me going into a job interview and saying, "Okay, I never meet my deadlines and I am always late. I'm not interested in news reporting and I don't really know anything about what's going on in the country. I've got suits and shirts but I'm not really going to wear them to come to work. I like getting my own way more than not. "But don't worry, I'm a great writer!" Let's work on putting our best foot forward. I'll start...you next!
