The dangers in local media

There is no doubt that the St. Lucian Media is an explosive sector of the society. Over the past few years the electronic media, in particular had flourished, and is in fact flourishing as is evident by the numerous talk shows on radio and television, night and day.
Journalism in St. Lucia today holds tremendous potential for experienced and budding journalists wanting to perfect their craft. But journalism today is not for the coward, not for the faint of heart and certainly not for those who see life in St. Lucia with rose coloured glasses. Journalists in St. Lucia continually find themselves, if not exposed to danger, exposed to humiliating moments in their efforts to safeguard the basic values of the profession.
The danger may not usually be in the form of a pointed gun, as is elsewhere in the world, but equally dangerous are the open threats, the veiled threats, the finger pointing, the arrests, the manhandling by officers of the law and politicians and their supporters and the lists goes on. And all of the above takes place in St. Lucia.
We come to the images that formed part of HTS Newscast at 7p.m. last Monday in which one of the station’s reporters was shown being physically abused and man-handled by a crowd of supporters at the recent United Workers Party closed session Conference of Delegates.

The incident has evoked the wrath of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) and local media practitioners.
The ACM has since written to the managing director of the television station asking for confirmation of the sequence of events which led to the reporter being ejected from the conference and his notebook seized by the police.
“If this is indeed the case, The ACM wishes to express concern about the physical assault on Mr. Lebourne, the threats on his life and the seizure of material that facilitates the practice of journalism,” the ACM noted in its letter which was copied to the Honourable Edmund Estaphane, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Police Commissioner Mr. John Broughton and others.
We are looking to the Minister with responsibility for Information and Broadcasting and the Prime Minister to say something on the matter.
Journalists must be free to do what they do in the public interest and for one of their own to be handled in such a manner at a function of the government of the day does not augur well for the government.