It is with regret that THE NEW TODAY is forced to address THE GRENADA BROADCASTING NETWORK (GBN) and its most unfortunate attempt to “kill” the incident at last Tuesday’s post-Cabinet press conference between the Minister of State for Information, Senator Winston Garraway and Independent Freelance journalist, Calistra Farrier.
This newspaper is not in the business of taking to task other sections of the media but the issue on hand is very fundamental as it touches on press freedom and censorship whether deliberate, overtly or covertly.
GBN owes an explanation to the nation on why it did not carry the story when two of its own reporters were in attendance at the press briefing and witnessed the event first hand.
The fact of the matter is that NEW TODAY’s George Worme was interviewed by GBN on the Garraway/Farrier encounter one day after it happened and nothing was even carried by the network from the interview that was given. Why GBN?
It is true that the Government of Grenada is a shareholder in GBN but is a minority one at that since the One Caribbean Media Limited (OCM) is the majority shareholder and the one calling “the shots” at the network which often boast of being the nation’s premier media institution for news.
The current behaviour of GBN must be put into the context of what has been happening at the network since the back-to-back 15-0 victory at the polls by the Keith Mitchell-led New National Party (NNP) in the 2013 and 2018 general elections to run the affairs of the country.
The network moved like a swift thief in the night to give the axe to veteran journalist Lew Smith who used to host the very popular “Beyond The Headlines” Radio and TV programme and to put in his place as the new face a female Government Senator Katisha Williams to run an independent programme. Laughable!!!
There was a loud outcry both inside and outside of Grenada against this decision by GBN which in the end did not fall on deaf ears.
Today Ms Williams has disappeared and is no longer seen on this premier programme as its host. Who took the decision to pull the plug on the female Senator who is also an attorney-at-law?
THE NEW TODAY is fast forwarding to September 2019 and what appears to be a deliberate decision taken by GBN to hide away from the public the tape recording of what really happened between Sen. Garraway and the female reporter.
Did a call come from the Botanical Gardens to give instructions to GBN on how to treat the story?
40 years ago calls often came from the same Botanical Gardens from then Prime Minister Eric Gairy to instruct the forerunner of GBN, Radio Grenada on what should or should not be in the news.
Are we on a similar course in trampling press freedom and seeking to curtail the independent press?
This was one of the seeds that germinated and helped to create the conditions for arms and ammunition to be used by the New Jewel Movement (NJM) of Maurice Bishop to overthrow Gairy’s Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) government on March 13, 1979?
The current Prime Minister was a member of the NJM until he left Grenada in questionable circumstances following the Grenada Shipping Agency affair and in the early 80’s was in the forefront of the struggle outside the country against the same NJM and Grenada Revolution over its curtailment of press freedom and human rights abuses including detention of persons without charge or trial in a law court.
Is Dr. Mitchell and his NNP doing the same thing that Maurice Bishop and Bernard Coard did against the free press in Grenada, Carriaocu & Petite Martinique?
There has not been a single word from the substantial Minister of Information who is Prime Minister Mitchell on the Garraway/Farrier incident which has gone viral on Social Media platforms and is painting a particular bad image of the country to the outside world.
The current situation should also force the President of the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG), Shere-Ann Noel to reassess her own position to continue to lead the media in Grenada.
Ms. Noel was at the post-Cabinet press briefing and witnessed the entire episode and is also just as silent on it as GBN. Why?
The current situation with the media in Grenada calls for true and genuine leadership and Ms. Noel should be honest with herself and seriously question whether she is capable of performing that task and role as MWAG President given her background as one of the mouthpieces of the current regime.
THE NEW TODAY would like to see her step aside from the position and never to return at any time in the foreseeable future to any leadership position in the organisation.
Ms. Noel has provided no serious leadership to MWAG in her stints as head of the organization which is now seen as a floor mat for the powers-that-be to walk all over and to kick about whenever it becomes necessary.
The MWAG President cannot take any firm stand in a battle between the media workers of the country and the Mitchell government given her own known past, ties and commitment to the current regime in office.
It is time for the association to look elsewhere for genuine leadership if it wants to gain the respect of members of the profession and to play a meaningful role in the development of persons who want to pursue journalism as a career.