Newsday editor in chief on PM's refusal to answer question – 'Culture of silence by TT governments'

NEWSDAY'S editor in chief, Judy Raymond, says there is a culture of silence among TT governments when faced with hard questions from the media on issues in the public domain and the public interest.

She was responding to questions from veteran journalist Dominic Kalipersad in i95.5FM's Sunday midday talk show programme on the Prime Minister's refusal to answer a question from Newsday journalist Darren Bahaw at a press conference on Saturday.

Not only did Dr Rowley refuse to answer Bahaw's question on whether or not he as Prime Minister did any due diligence before appointing Reginald Armour, SC, Attorney General, but he also berated the media for perceived nefarious agendas against him and his government.

Rowley took Bahaw to task for his coverage of his going to court, almost 15 years ago, in a lawsuit Rowley had brought against the Integrity Commission. He accused Bahaw of taking the photo and being behind what he said was the headline, Rowley Appears in Court, used in the Express newspaper.

Asked by Kalipersad for Newsday's response to this, Raymond said, "In a sense, Newsday's response is not entirely relevant, in that the main thing that seemed to be upsetting the Prime Minister was something that happened when the reporter in question was employed by the Express, in 2007."

She added that from what Rowley said on Saturday, it appeared he thought that not only do reporters write stories but also the headlines, take photos, edit the stories and then decide where stories are placed in the newspapers.

"Which is clearly not the case, since there are editors who are there to do that. Reporters are assigned to write stories," she said. Raymond said she was surprised that Rowley, with almost 40 years in political life, did not know how a news story is produced and how its details and its use are determined.

She said Bahaw's due-diligence question was very valid, since issues surrounding Armour have been very much front and centre in the public domain for weeks and may involve the Government in the expenditure of $20 million of taxpayers' money.

"It was a valid question in the public's interest and it was addressed to the PM in a perfectly calm, dignified and respectful way, but did not get answered in the same fashion, unfortunately. In fact, it did not get answered at all," Raymond said.

She said unlike what people may believe about mainstream media taking news story cues from social media, the fact is that mainstream media houses seek to confirm and verify sources of information they get before reporting the information.

"We don't just rush to report something from social media without first ensuring it passes our tests."

Asked by Kalipersad for her thoughts on Rowley's refusal to answer Bahaw's question, Raymond said the refusal to answer media questions is nothing new when it comes to the Government and previous administrations.

"I don't think government members making themselves available to answer media questions happens as often as it should." She used Armour as an example, pointing out that since his appointment earlier this year, he has had one press conference.

At this conference, Armour read a prepared statement on an issue which he had spoken about in the Senate, which had sat before his press conference.

"There has always been a culture of silence about the things this country has a right to know about and unfortunately, it is getting more common and more accepted, at least among some of the parties in question, that if someone in the media asks you a question you don't want to answer for whatever reason, (then) you don't have to."