It is with deep regret that THE NEW TODAY is unable to provide our readers with news concerning the major shows of Spicemas 2026.
The sad reality is that despite our many efforts, our news outlet was unable to get Accreditation from the Spicemas Corporation to cover Queen Show, Soca Monarch, Panorama and Dimanche Gras featuring the National Calypso finals.
Our paper was virtually limited to covering only the carnival events on the streets.
This rather unfortunate situation arose from the failure of certain people in Spicemas to provide us with the necessary and relevant Media passes to cover the events.
An email was sent to Spicemas a week before the event seeking information about Accreditation and up to today’s date it was never acknowledged by the people running this state-owned body.
Despite this email, a member of our Management made two calls to the person who is supposed to be the Liaison between the Media and Spicemas.
The first telephone call was met with the response that the person was in a meeting and would respond to us later in the day.
The person did not call and on the following day, we again attempted to get in contact with the individual via telephone.
An attempt was also made to obtain the cellphone number of the Spicemas person but our request was turned down on the grounds that permission had to be first sought by the individual to give out the number.
After two unsuccessful attempts to get ahold of that individual, our Management took the decision to try and reach the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Spicemas, Mr Kurt Ross to seek his intervention on our behalf.
Mr. Ross did answer our first call and indicated that he was in a meeting and would call back soon after it was finished.
However, he asked what the call was about and he was told that THE NEW TODAY was seeking Accreditation for Carnival activities and was having difficulties in contacting the Liaison person from Spicemas.
The Spicemas boss did not return the call as promised.
The following day another call was made to him and he indicated that he would get the person to call us on the matter.
Again we did not receive any call and we sent a message via Whatsapp to Mr Ross which said, “I have not heard from your people.”
Sadly, we did not get any response from the Chairman and that was the end of our efforts to seek Accreditation to cover the official Carnival Events.
THE NEW TODAY has on its staff an individual who has covered Carnival for the past 44 years, and 2026 was the first time we did not get the co-operation of the relevant people to provide the coverage to our readers not only at home but in the region and internationally.
The people of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique have received our service free of cost to them since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019.
This should be contrast with the treatment handed out to this major local newspaper that was providing a free service as opposed to the thousands of dollars reportedly paid by the Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) to bring in journalists from neighbouring Trinidad & Tobago to cover Spicemas 2026.
We note the shabby way our media house was treated this year by those running our carnival on behalf of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
There is no way that THE NEW TODAY would send its people to cover these official events without proper Accreditation from Spicemas and to appear in front of the Entry gate to the shows to face embarrassment and humiliation.
Back in 1982 when one of our senior staffers covered Grenada Carnival for the first time the then Carnival Development Committee (CDC) did not give any passes but informed the Journalist that instructions would be left at the gate to facilitate his entry into the venue.
The Journalist was rather surprised that on approaching the Gate, Mr Danny Roberts who was then the head of CDC was there to welcome him to the venue which was the old Queen’s Park pavilion to provide him with the opportunity to showcase Grenada’s carnival to the region.
It is well-known that in the past those previous Carnival bodies will often call the recognised Media Houses in the country to obtain their passes to cover carnival events.
Nothing remains the same or cast in stone but there are certain things that should never happen like leaving out any of the major Media Houses in the country from Accreditation for the activities and events of Spicemas.