THE EDITOR: The recent outburst from the President of the Media Association (didn’t know we had one) has left me somewhat puzzled.
He decided to take to social media to criticize the Prime Minister for chastising a member of the media for asking a question posed by the Opposition which the PM had answered on a prior occasion at an event at which said journalist was present.
And in fact, this question was answered not only at a recent press event at the OKEU, but I have also heard the Minister of Health comment on this as well.
The fact is the PM has every right to be annoyed when members of the media fail to do their jobs. Whilst the role of the press is not to do PR for the government in power, neither is it their role to do the work of the Opposition.
Miguel and others need to stop looking for stories to fall into their laps and to actually conduct some basic research and investigation to cover the news of the day.
Whilst I appreciate that most who practice in the media actually hardly have any real experience or qualifications to do so, at least there should be some attempt made by members of the media to pass as real journalists.
It is disheartening to see these half-hearted and frankly lazy attempts to create a story and to constantly ask the government the same things over and over. What they must do is to apprise themselves of the facts of the story and then to ask the government the more probing questions that the public may not themselves ask.
I honestly can’t blame the PM for asking the gentleman to in effect, to go do his homework. If the PM is good enough to give of his time each week for these press conferences (something no previous PM has ever done), then our media ought to respect him – and the viewing/listening public – enough to ask proper questions.
The media man in question – and Miguel – ought instead to have asked whether this timeline for the move to OKEU is practical and how the government is going to find the monies to operate the hospital once it’s fully operational.
Miguel’s defensive response to the PM’s legitimate criticism shows just how clueless he is as to his role and lays bare the fact that he is more interested in showing his political colours rather than his journalistic stripes.
The St. Lucian public depends on the media to be fair, unbiased, to ask the tough questions and to hold the government accountable.
Miguel & Co have failed us on all accounts.
As a St. Lucian who wants to see his country prosper – irrespective of which government is in office – I call on the media to step up and do the right thing and leave the politics to the politicians. (Alfaka)
Leave the politics to the politicians – truest word ever spoken.
The only time one is political as far as this government and its hacks are concerned is views aired are not supportive of them. It is time people in this country grow up and allow everyone to freely exercise their democratic right.
This writer behaves like a spoilt brat who wants all to himself /herself with no consideration for others. Why is it you fail to dwell on the public’s right to know. How comes all you see is the opposition? It just goes to show how myopic you are and how much you others to be. Chastanet is not known for his openness with press except the section which touches him with cotton buds.
It’s obvious that you are a hack. A journalist can ask the Prime Minister any question he or she chooses as long as they think it is information that the public will benefit from. Go away Hack, you can’t fool anyone by claiming to want the island to prosper under any government.