Scant courtesy for local media

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Parent Category: Aug 2011

Category: Week ending Aug 27th, 2011

Published on Monday, 29 August 2011 12:30

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The media in Grenada continue to be subjected to scant courtesy under a government that campaigned three years ago to be different from its predecessor, the New National Party (NNP) of former Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell. The latest lack of respect for members of the media came last week Friday at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA) at a ceremony held to mark the reintroduction of Conviasa Airline to Grenada.

Members of the media who were invited by the Grenada Board of Tourism (GBT) to cover that historic event had a rude awakening from airport security officials. The assembled group of local media personnel at the arrival lounge was told that they would not be permitted to go outside on the tarmac to cover the arrival of the aircraft. An airport security officer told the press corps that the Government Information Services (GIS) would be the only outfit that will be permitted outside, and that it will then provide footage to the other media houses.

However, after voicing concern about what will happen for the print media by a member of The New Today Newspaper, along with the intervention of Tourism Minister, Peter David, permission was finally granted for the entire press corps to go outside and capture the arrival of the aircraft. Despite this, another hurdle was put in the way of the media when the aircraft landed, as they were not in a position to manoeuvre from where they were planted by the airport’s security outfit.

The backs of those local officials who were on hand to greet the arriving Venezuelan plane were standing directly in front of the local media, thus creating poor visibility for photographs to be taken. A red flag was immediately raised to the Head of the Airport Security, Eric Peters who instantly walked away without giving  a listening ear to the concerns being raised by the local media.

While all this was happening, media personnel from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean country who came in on the flight, were allowed to traverse to any location on the tarmac to do their coverage of the event. The Grenadian media were forced to remain at one location to do their work as assigned to them by MBIA security officers.

At one point, a cameraman from the Grenada Broadcasting Network (GBN), Levi Benoit tried to reposition himself to another location in order to be able to videotape the greetings. Soon after, Benoit was roughed up by Peters who commanded him to get back to the original spot assigned to the local media. When questioned by reporters why the local media had to endure such harsh treatment, an official from the Ministry of Tourism said they had nothing to do with the planning ceremony for Conviasa’s arrival.

According to the official, all the arrangements were handled by GBT but it was quite noticeable that no high-ranking official of the board including Director of Tourism, Simon Stiell, outgoing Chairman, Richard Strachan or his successor, Colin Dowe were among the welcoming party.

PHOTOS: Top, Officials with Min. of Tourism Peter David, next photo shows foreign journalists having free access to the officials, final photo shows Levi Peters keeping local media "in check" and away from the "vantage shots" in the process

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