Foreign Affairs Minister Suruj Rambachan has broken his silence on allegations of Government interference on the state-owned Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG). He has referred to any implied similarities to that issue and that of the Fazeer Mohammed incident as an "imagination of the media being stretched." He added: "The Government of T&T values press freedom and will not interfere in the rights of reporters to report the news in the most professional manner. "That is the principle by which we abide and the principle which will be upheld."
He was speaking with reporters yesterday after an official ceremony to mark the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and the University of the West Indies (UWI). The signing took place at the ACS Secretariat, Sweet Briar Road, St Clair. Journalists at CNMG alleged there was political interference in the reporting of news. CNMG's management has since has agreed to meet with employees this week to discuss their concerns. Mohammed, a former talk show host, was dismissed late last year by CNMG's management who cited it as "a cost-cutting measure."
The dismissal occurred shortly after an argument with Rambachan on "First Up" morning show. In citing the Government's expectations for the media to "report the news as it needed to be reported," with the "highest level of professionalism", Rambachan added that he was not fully "appraised" on the issue.
He said the matter appeared to be one that arose "whenever there was a change of Government."
"It seems to me that whenever there is a change of Government, this issue seems to arise and I suppose it is something that will require a settling period." Pressed to respond to calls by the Media Association of T&T (MATT) for Government to distance itself from media ownership or take a clear stance as to the journalistic perimeters of the state-owned media entity, Rambachan said the Government's relationship with CNMG was one which could work, once reporting was executed properly.
He said: "I didn't hear MATT ask that question when the other government (People's National Movement) was in office. "I think that once the state media house does its work in an honest manner, upholds integrity in terms of what it is doing and is professional, I do not think there is any problem with the State owning media." Asked to respond to concerns on the issue of Government censorship, the minister said the Government's only expectation was that reporters be fair in the way they disseminated their information.