THE EDITOR:
There is a disturbing undercurrent in St. Lucia that media personnel are under a form of scrutiny by way of free expression. If this is the case, all St. Lucians must stand as one and defeat any such plan. Today, we wish to focus on the departure of Timothy Poleon from Choice News for reasons we have not been able to verify but in the event that his resignation originated from any form of unusual pressure, this will be a very sad day in the annals of St. Lucia
The role of the media remains troubling amongst nations as many citizens at certain stages of their career will be affected one way or another, but the media profession remains the watch dog of a nation and must never be comproised. There will always be losers and winners as a result of media investigations, but most of us will agree that the role of the media is crucial. We shall not embark on the various incidents which have been brought to light worldwide because of the media, as they are far too numerous, but we should never lose sight of the accomplishments, including Watergate and today the discovery in Panama of offshore banking accounts whereby the Prime Minister of Iceland resigned his position.
Timothy Poleon as an individual has been a household name in St. Lucia for the past 25 years or more and is one who started at the bottom and worked his way to the top by dint of hard work, dedication and the love of his profession. Poleon at this stage of his career should have been recognized years ago for his sterling contribution in his field but to date other than being recognized by all and sundry for ensuring that pressing and important news items can reach a wider cross section of the community in record time based on his wide audience, that has been the sum total of his recognition.
There is no doubt that in the throes of his career, Poleon’s eyes remained open and we have no doubt that he will continue to play a significant role in the field of communication. While on the subject of scrutiny, we witnessed Clinton Reynolds on his show “Current Affairs” explaining to the nation the contents of a letter he received from a well known attorney at law requesting an apology for statements made in respect to certain officials. Mr. Reynolds stood firm in respect of his conviction that he had done nothing wrong and was prepared to face any legal assault that maybe directed at him. Based on these recent events we have every reason to be concerned of these developments.
— The Watcher
Why what you have written is very true and I stand a supporter of those beliefs, I have also come to realize that the news media is also guilty of not being accepting of constructive criticism from the public so as to maintain balance, transparency and being a role model in enforcing the right to freedom of speech and expression as they claim.
I have had some of my post taken down on this media very media site for expressing concerns on the merits and benefits of some published articles.
So why would it be fair for the media to be a government watch dog and the public not allowed to be a watch dog of the media.
There has to be more balance and fairness by all those in authority. That includes the government, media, corporations and individuals in decision making capacity. Otherwise we should remind ourselves of the old saying.”If you live in a glass house, don’t throw stones.”
I will believe that you the media do a fairly good job of maintaining balance and civility in our nation. But you must strive to do even better job by allowing others to criticize some of your ideas or decision, in hopes of of these criticism making you even a better service provider to us all.