The ‘Reporters Without Borders’ 2019 World Press Freedom Index found journalism in OECS islands to be too heavily influenced by politics. It reads in part: “Journalism is not a prestige profession in the countries that are members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. They receive little training and often abandon media work because it is so badly paid, an issue that particularly affects female journalists in the region.”
The index goes on to explain that “many media outlets are under the direct influence of politicians, especially during elections, because officials can withdraw state advertising at any time and deprive them of income they depend on. In some of the Islands, political parties even own or have major shares in media companies, compromising journalistic independence.”
Which leads to Castries Southeast MP Guy Joseph’s refusal to field any questions posed by Choice News reporter Janeka Simon on Tuesday. The crux of the matter, despite all of the hullabaloo that has ensued, is whether or not individuals, including public figures such as politicians, have the right to refuse to answer questions posed by the media. The long and short of it is that they do. They are under no obligation to answer our questions. Of course, we remain free not to put questions to certain government officials, also accountable to the public—even to defend their silence!
During the exchange, MBC’s Miguel Fevrier told Joseph: “Sir, we’re speaking on behalf of the people. Sir, you owe us an explanation!” Nothing in the above, however, has any basis in truth. As W.H. Auden penned in The Poet and the City: “What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, and replaced by a new dish.” In other words, believe it or not, media work is a business.
Also of note was Joseph’s response to the notion that the media speaks on behalf of the people: “I’ve been elected by the people of my constituency”—a not so subtle declaration that it is in fact the elected politician who represents the people, not the media.
The veteran politician’s given rationale for his stance toward Simon reads as follows: “I have no intention of answering any questions you ask. If you want to be a politician, be a politician; then we will deal with it from a political perspective . . . I don’t consider the person [Simon] a reporter . . . when they disguise themselves with their political agendas and try to present themselves as reporters who are being objective; that is where I have the problem.”
In a brief presser after the combative exchange with Joseph, Ms Simon said she was baffled by the MP’s decision not to answer her questions. Her following description of journalists in her press conference afterwards, admittedly threw me for a loop. “As I have said before, journalists are political actors and I make no apologies for that.”
INFOCORE (an international collaborative research project funded under the 7th European Framework Program of the European Commission), defines political actors as: “Individuals who have obtained at least some measure of political power and/or authority in a particular society, who engage in activities that can have a significant influence on decisions, policies, media coverage, and outcomes associated with a given conflict.”
The key point there is that political actors have “significant influence” on media coverage, a problem in the OECS region, highlighted in the above quoted World Press Freedom Index. INFOCORE goes on to say: “In democratic countries this would include all elected leaders, candidates who are running for election, and relatively high-level policy makers who have a significant impact on the formation and execution of policies that have an impact on society and/or foreign affairs. This includes all those in power who have been elected to those positions, government ministers, and those members of the legislative branch who are in the opposition.” In other words, political actors, for the most part, are politicians.
Additionally, journalists are nowhere mentioned in the above references to “political actors”. It is understandable, given the traditional definition, why Joseph would refer to a self-proclaimed “political actor” as a politician. Ultimately, politicians have the right to be selective about whom they grant interviews. Journalists have the right to report what they know, to slant their reports according to how they perceived their subject—or to pretend an incident never occurred.
