Main stream media needs deep introspection

During the course of this past week both the Press Association of Jamaica ( PAJ) and the Media Association of Jamaica ( MAJ) launched a broadside coordinated “attack” on the Prime Minister over comments he made at a rally in Tivoli Gardens. The PM had told those in attendance to seek multiple sources of information as they cannot rely on one source for the truth.

Since that rally the press have had their knickers in a knot, with the Gleaner writing at least one editorial warning the PM against creating mistrust in the media.

The PAJ/MAJ joined in the song and dance with a joint statement which was released to the media yesterday.

In what turned out to be a watershed moment in the history of the media landscape in Jamaica, both associations were roundly castigated by a large section of the public who strongly rejected any assertion that the PM attacked the media

The public in fact told the PAJ/MAJ to go after papers like the Gleaner which has posted a number of inaccurate pieces of headlines and reports which may have done reputational harm to some folks, Shaggy was highlighted as one such case.

The people largely rejected the PAJ / MAJ and asserted further that the press release itself was yet another falsehood, which justified the PM position that the public should seek multiple sources for news and the truth.

Main stream media now needs to reflect on the outcome of the events of this past week and the public’s strong rejection of their position and heed the warning of the public to seek the truth, investigate and stop the reliance on unreliable sources which ends of feeding them patently inaccurate information, which is then disseminated to the public.

I do hope the media practitioners take heed and recognize that the public is no longer prepared to listen what they tell them without asking really tough questions.

I hope they will heed the warning and seek to once again win the trust of the public especially as an election period approaches by being the paragon of truth.

Bless

Don’t blame the Prime Minister for the lost of public trust in the media

The Prime Minister in a recent public appearance indicated that there are those in the media who gets to choose what they want to report on and in recent times those reports have been found wanting.

In the same address the Prime Minister told the audience that you cannot rely on one source of information and if you really want to know his utterance and policies look to his social media pages.

Since that statement there are those who felt stung by these comments (which happens to be a truism) , who have been saying the PM is trying to erode trust in main stream media.

The fact is, main stream media by its own actions or lack thereof has damaged their credibility (maybe beyond repairs) by its tendency to report falsehoods as “news” because someone said it at a press conference.

How many of us listen only a single station for your news and sports ?

How many of you watch only a single news channel for local news?

How many of you watch a single cable channel for overseas news ?

The answers is most likely, we may have a favourite station, but we tune into multiple stations, not just for various pieces of news, but to verify something we may have picked up in the media landscape.

Why don’t we all just listen to or read one newspaper to get all the news we need, well the answer is obvious why we act in this manner. Do we all read a single text book for information on our course of study or in our business do we rely on a single supplier for goods or services.

Just last week the Opposition leader called a press conference were he told the media that his ” investigative” team have discovered a massive de-bushing scandal that made the first so called de-bushing scandal look like child’s play.

The opposition leader charged that he had gained access to documents which showed that contracts were signed and executed for a massive $1.6b to complete de-bushing work in St Thomas under the auspices of RADA. Dr Fenton Ferguson then commented that he saw documents that proved that just about $400m was spent in Eastern St Thomas an area he has represented for six consecutive terms

Dr Ferguson also reported that over one billion ( $1b) had been spent in Western St Thomas , which is held by James Robertson of the JLP.

The “independent” media gobbled us this sensational and juicy piece of news and it was instantly reported it as breaking news to the point were TVJ news headlines on that day was ” Debushing Scandal 2.0″.

The media personnel in attendance ( it would appear”) never sought to dig deep and question Dr Peter Phillips and his fellow wise men on whether the information could have been incorrect, or if had been verified. No one from the media it would appear sought to make contact with RADA chairman prior to their reporting of the “scandal.

The RADA Chairman who I know is someone with facts, ripped the news reports to shreds and sought to chide the PNP for spreading falsehood and creating mischief.

DJM latter then sought to quiz the chairman asking ” Are you sure that you have all the information and if there could things he may not have been privy to in relation to this scandal” The chairman was unmoved and stood his ground in face of the questions being asked after the fact.

Within 6 hrs after the “scandal” broke it was debunked as ” duppy stories” without a kernel of truth, but still traditional media continued to report on “de-bushing scandal” when it was clear hrs before that no such scandal exists.

I am yet to see the media fraternity scold themselves and or the opposition for spreading falsehoods, which only sought to further tarnish our reputation on the international scene. I have yet to see a single media house apologize to the chairman, the management and staff of RADA for the discomfort that may have been caused by the erroneous reports they all carried up to 48 hrs after it was dismissed as being baseless and without merit.

To members of the media fraternity, its not too late to apologize to RADA and members of the public for your screw up last week and promise us that going forward, you will demand that your members seek to ask questions as a way to get to the truth verse reporting falsehoods as news.

Then and only then will trust be restored in main stream media, as we all know that social media cannot be relied on for source of our news.

We need credibility to be restored to main stream media and you all to need to make that a priority and rather than preoccupied with Prime Ministers statements which many of us found to be timely and on point

Bless.