Roget attacks media

Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) president Ancel Roget turned on the press on Tuesday morning, calling editors “house n----rs.”

At a media conference at Paramount Building on Circular Road in San Fernando Roget lashed out at reporting on trade unions.

Outstanding wage negotiations were the topic of the press conference, but Roget highlighed the reporting styles of several media houses in reference to the matter.

He said, “I want to make the point for those editors, those house n----rs who scribe for the one per cent. I, as the president of JTUM, am not calling for more money or being unreasonable.

“Any self-respecting editor who is not in the hands or at the behest of their one per cent or their modern-day slavemaster would agree with this position, that he is also treated as a worker.”

Roget also said media houses portrayed the union as only raising issues at election time, when in fact the issues had been on the table for deliberations with the relevant agencies for a while.

He said, “Even though you (media) would carry out the dictates for the local, modern-day massas and write against the trade union movement, I want to remind you house n----rs in the Guardian, Express and Newsday we have been raising these issues all of the time.”

Media Association (MATT) president Dr Sheila Rampersad said Roget's statements showed weak leadership from a person who was supposed to be representing the working class.

“It is an egregious example of infantile leadership to attack a free press that has represented the voice of workers throughout the history of media in TT.

"This is silly season, not open season on journalists. Leaders seem incapable of emancipating themselves from narrow ideologies and limited vocabularies.

"A similar matter involving our member Kejan Haynes is currently before the Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC).”

MATT said it was actively exploring the possibility of filing a similar complaint against Roget on behalf of its members.

Newsday editor in chief Judy Raymond said the paper reports regularly and often on issues that trade unions choose to raise publicly.

"If he disagrees with the way we do so, I am sure Mr Roget is aware that there is a variety of channels through which to discuss that disagreement. Mr Roget is articulate and experienced and can express himself clearly without resorting to racial slurs."