How dare you appoint yourself the authority on what is considered “mainstream media”! How dare you exclude small, independent media houses from your pressers! Who died and made you King?
I’m ticked off this week at our Prime Minister and as a sort of employee of AZP News.
Now I eh know about the other media houses that were blanked but let me tell you about AZP, our fearless leader Prior Beharry was an editor at the Trinidad Guardian and after a brief hiatus in corporate communications decided to start AZP News. A small online, independent (meaning we are not attached to any larger entity), news website that provides unbiased coverage of our nation’s happenings.
I got roped in, because clearly Prior had a memory lapse regarding all the trouble I gave him during my tenure at the Guardian. And here we are today, a small news website just trying to make its way.
I am not too sure what our PM means by mainstream, by if he means a source of news that is unbiased and not underhandedly funded by a political entity, then us here at AZP News are as mainstream as they come in the digital age.
So I feel personally attacked by having AZP News blanked.
Now I can understand the PM’s reservations when it comes to some media outlets. Let’s be honest there are a lot of personalities out there passing off personal, opinion-based blogs or websites as news sites. They come with agendas and are very very rarely unbiased in their coverage.
It is also understandable that the Government has to be cautious of every “Tom and Mary” calling themselves journalists and strolling into press conferences loaded with their personal feelings and advocacy.
You cannot call yourself a journalist unless you have worked under demanding editors, requested information, dealt with various sources, worked under a strict code of ethics for little money, been held to unforgiving timelines and been jacked up by some random lunatic on Frederick Street, asking you “how do you sleep at night” (true story and one for another time).
What needs to be done is that our PM and his government need to create a clear outline of what they consider a “mainstream” media house. How does it earn its revenue? Who are its players? Does it have a track record of being neutral or biased?
In regard to the recent debacles of certain media houses being excluded from press conferences our government needs to explain why and what reasoning was used.
What our PM has done by excluding smaller media entities is shown his lack of knowledge about what constitutes a source of news. Bigger doesn’t always mean better, likewise older doesn’t mean better either.
The Guardian, the Express, the Newsday and Loop didn’t start out as the titans they are today, like us newer media houses they too had to fight, scratch and catch their tails to get to where they are.
Prime Minister Rowley has always had a complicated relationship with the media. Speaking on Monday night at Mix and Mingle event for the media, held at the Waterfront in Port of Spain, Rowley defended his stance and then went on to reveal he had some hard feelings about the media always riding his tail and not that of the Oppositions.
Fun Fact: While Prior didn’t get invited into the press conference he got invited by the PNM into the Mix and Mingle for maybe “mainstream media”…. oh, the irony.
Click here to see AZP News photographic coverage of the PNM’s Mix and Mingle
Well Sir that’s because you are the prime minister, you are in office, not the opposition. I say this sadly but right now you are the most important person in the room; people need to hear from you.
You cannot act out of emotion, and you cannot take things so personally that you believe everyone is being unfair to you when you are in a position of leadership.
So, I am upset, I am upset because I believe AZP News does a great job in being fair. We don’t have massive number of resources, Prior busts his butt 24/7 and to be spat on with such disregard is horrible.
The prime minister needs to let us know what criteria he is using to determine what media house is worthy of his time. Because as it is, his exclusion of certain media houses has rubbed many the wrong way and has come off as a constitutional assault on the freedom of the press.
AZP News: Mainstream Media in Digital Age
By Alicia Chamely
SIR, I am highly offended!
How dare you appoint yourself the authority on what is considered “mainstream media”! How dare you exclude small, independent media houses from your pressers! Who died and made you King?
I’m ticked off this week at our Prime Minister and as a sort of employee of AZP News.
Dr Keith Rowley woke up one morning and chose to exclude certain media houses from press conferences at the Diplomatic Centre, favouring larger media houses which he referred to as “mainstream media”.
Now I eh know about the other media houses that were blanked but let me tell you about AZP, our fearless leader Prior Beharry was an editor at the Trinidad Guardian and after a brief hiatus in corporate communications decided to start AZP News. A small online, independent (meaning we are not attached to any larger entity), news website that provides unbiased coverage of our nation’s happenings.
I got roped in, because clearly Prior had a memory lapse regarding all the trouble I gave him during my tenure at the Guardian. And here we are today, a small news website just trying to make its way.
I am not too sure what our PM means by mainstream, by if he means a source of news that is unbiased and not underhandedly funded by a political entity, then us here at AZP News are as mainstream as they come in the digital age.
So I feel personally attacked by having AZP News blanked.
Now I can understand the PM’s reservations when it comes to some media outlets. Let’s be honest there are a lot of personalities out there passing off personal, opinion-based blogs or websites as news sites. They come with agendas and are very very rarely unbiased in their coverage.
It is also understandable that the Government has to be cautious of every “Tom and Mary” calling themselves journalists and strolling into press conferences loaded with their personal feelings and advocacy.
You cannot call yourself a journalist unless you have worked under demanding editors, requested information, dealt with various sources, worked under a strict code of ethics for little money, been held to unforgiving timelines and been jacked up by some random lunatic on Frederick Street, asking you “how do you sleep at night” (true story and one for another time).
What needs to be done is that our PM and his government need to create a clear outline of what they consider a “mainstream” media house. How does it earn its revenue? Who are its players? Does it have a track record of being neutral or biased?
In regard to the recent debacles of certain media houses being excluded from press conferences our government needs to explain why and what reasoning was used.
What our PM has done by excluding smaller media entities is shown his lack of knowledge about what constitutes a source of news. Bigger doesn’t always mean better, likewise older doesn’t mean better either.
The Guardian, the Express, the Newsday and Loop didn’t start out as the titans they are today, like us newer media houses they too had to fight, scratch and catch their tails to get to where they are.
Prime Minister Rowley has always had a complicated relationship with the media. Speaking on Monday night at Mix and Mingle event for the media, held at the Waterfront in Port of Spain, Rowley defended his stance and then went on to reveal he had some hard feelings about the media always riding his tail and not that of the Oppositions.
Fun Fact: While Prior didn’t get invited into the press conference he got invited by the PNM into the Mix and Mingle for maybe “mainstream media”…. oh, the irony.
Click here to see AZP News photographic coverage of the PNM’s Mix and Mingle
Well Sir that’s because you are the prime minister, you are in office, not the opposition. I say this sadly but right now you are the most important person in the room; people need to hear from you.
You cannot act out of emotion, and you cannot take things so personally that you believe everyone is being unfair to you when you are in a position of leadership.
So, I am upset, I am upset because I believe AZP News does a great job in being fair. We don’t have massive number of resources, Prior busts his butt 24/7 and to be spat on with such disregard is horrible.
The prime minister needs to let us know what criteria he is using to determine what media house is worthy of his time. Because as it is, his exclusion of certain media houses has rubbed many the wrong way and has come off as a constitutional assault on the freedom of the press.