The Government places ads in all newspapers but seeks to get value for money and perhaps does not advertise as much as the previous administration, says Minister of Works and Infrastructure and Local Government Dr Surujrattan Rambachan.He made the statement yesterday in response to claims over the weekend by Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) leader David Abdulah, after his ministry launched its Traffic Awareness Week at the Works Ministry, Port-of-Spain.He said: "If you check the newspapers you will see that there are advertisements from the Government in all the media."The fact is, we are a value-for-money government and therefore perhaps we do not do as much advertising as maybe the previous administration did. We advertise as necessary but we share the advertising among all the newspapers, as is evident from what you see in the papers."
Rambachan said Abdulah's claims were unfounded, although he admitted he was unaware of what he had said.During a press conference on Sunday, Abdulah said he knew of government ministers who had threatened to withdraw advertisement from media houses in an attempt to punish them.He also said he heard government ministers at a June 2011 People's Partnership caucus in Tobago speak about using the State's advertising budget to "penalise media that they believe are being unfair to them." He did not name the ministers.When asked about a headline on Sunday which read, "Suruj blasts Express and defends Guardian", Rambachan said what he defended was "the right of people to publish responsibly and the right of the free press."He said the T&T Guardian had "attacked him viciously, for days" on the matter of his educational qualifications until the paper apologised."Yet I am taking up the case of the Guardian. Doesn't that say something about how we respect press freedom?" he asked.