Al-Rawi appeals for good-news headlines

IN a tongue-lashing for the media, Rural Development and Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi emphasised on Wednesday that Trinidad and Tobago is "hooked on bad news.”

He blamed the media for propagating this narrative, with what he called their screaming headlines that use negative stories to sell their commodity.

His statement came on a day when two children lost their lives under tragic circumstances. A dead newborn baby's body was discovered in Maraval, and a 13-month-old girl, Harley Persad, died in a house fire in Chaguanas..

Told by members of the media that the stories reflect what is happening in society, Al-Rawi countered that worse than that is happening in other countries, citing Jamaica, yet, he said, those incidents are not given life.

Addressing the opening of the 33rd edition of the Southex Trade Show at Gulf City, San Fernando, Al-Rawi appealed to the media to put positive headlines on the front pages of the newspapers and in headline news on the electronic media.

“Put Southex on the front page.”

He told the audience, which included Southex CEO George Singh and Kiran Singh, president of the Greater San Fernando Chamber, “At this juncture of our societal formation, members of the media are tasked with the job of carrying current events and choose and angle largely because news is worthy. People need to be informed.”

He said he did a recent exercise in which he looked at the front pages of TT newspapers for 365 days. He said he compiled and compared them and realised, “TT is hooked on bad news.

“We sell it. We breathe it. We carry it on.”

Pointing to the adventure and crime films and movies that capture the attention of the local public, he submitted that those ideas came from incidents in larger countries around the globe.

“But in no other country do you see 365 days of bad news on the front pages.”

He compared this to “a child growing up in a home and all you are telling that child is that you are stupid, you are ugly, and you are failing.”

A child would believe that, he said.

“And on page 17, you have a little clip of, you know, he got an A in maths.”

Connecting the dots between his statements and the opening of the trade show, Al-Rawi said, “I tell you this: I believe at some point we are going to have to embrace the psyche of our country.

“Why is is relevant to this conversation?

"The psyche of San Fernando was at risk 33 years ago, when George Singh occupied a post here, talking VHS and Betamax and video. We could not imagine a world where entertainment is the way it is, where micro-business is the way it is, where commercialisation is the way it is.

“San Fernando held on to a dream, and players in the field like Southex's CEO, who went on to international entertainment, Soca Monarch meets Chutney Monarch, which had the vibrancy of San Fernando.

“There were a few players who said, 'I am going to put my energy and my money where my mouth is.' Southex is definitely, after 33 years, one of the major players in positive news.

“Positivity through commerce is real. Dear media, let's try a different front page for a while. The psyche of our country matters."