Previous Story
Opposition Leader’s Message on the Occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2024
Posted On 03 May 2024
As Trinidad and Tobago joins the rest of the globe in celebrating World Press Freedom Day, today, May 3, 2024, I affirm, on behalf of the Opposition UNC, our time honoured commitment to protect the constitutionally enshrined guarantee and sacred principle of press freedom.
T&T has long had a robust, independent media, which has considerably flourished in the last two decades in all spheres.
Indeed, in a population of approximately 1.4 million, our country may very well be among the top in the world per capita for the development and expansion of the press and media.
This a tremendous achievement, especially since the private sector has engendered this remarkable media development.
World Press Freedom Day reminds us to celebrate our achievements in this sphere. It also reminds Governments of the need to respect press freedom and to support free media at all times.
Unfortunately, today, our country faces a threat to all independent institutions by the Government, and the media is not removed from this very worrying development.
Too often in the past eight years, our national headlines have focused on attacks on the media from the Government.
Since 2020, in particular, there has been a frightening pattern of attacks on the media from Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley himself, which disturbingly borders on personal attacks on individual journalists, as well as a general attack on media owners.
Rowley: T&T media have interests to protect! PM pushes back on Venezuela narrative
By July 2022, the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago was forced to caution Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley for his attack against journalists for simply covering stories of the day.
https://trinidadexpress.com/newsextra/matt-cautions-rowley-warns-against-self-censorship-by-journalists/article_ba1dff22-fba8-11ec-9d38-777fdc3d746f.html
This is part of the Government’s disturbing trend of attacking every independent institution in Trinidad and Tobago, including the Judiciary, Integrity Commission, Law Association, Police Service Commission, and most recently, the Auditor General’s Office.
In a democracy like T&T, where freedom of the press is a constitutional guarantee, such behaviours are abhorrent and constitute an abuse of office.
No media practitioner should have to face the anxiety of being attacked by the highest office of the land for simply doing their job.
Notably, the UNC, under my leadership, has always encouraged freedom of the press in every possible way.
In 2013, under my tenure as Prime Minister, I ensured that my Government amended the Libel and Defamation Act, to prevent any journalist from being criminally charged and prosecuted under Section 9 of the act for malicious publication of any defamatory libel.
That also contained safeguards for citizens, who will still have legal cover, via Section 8 of the law, to protect themselves against malicious libel when information known to be wrong is printed.
Thus far, the T&T media has held its own and refused to capitulate to these threats from the Government. Today, I urge all citizens to also stand up to the Government to preserve our cherished democracy.
These threats can grow if we all stand apart, as anxious individuals unsure of our rights to freedom.
Remember the enduring caution of former US President, Thomas Jefferson: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”…
Let us stand together now, more than ever before for the sake of our nation and our future progress, and remember the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states in Article 19:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
