By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 16, 2021 – I have read the article by Candia Dames on the recent guidelines suggested for journalists in The Bahamas and it was very well written, in keeping with the fact that Ms. Dames is a graduate of the University of Maryland’s School of Journalism, one of the best in the United States.
However, although extremely well written, Ms. Dames reached some conclusions that were fundamentally flawed regarding the guidelines suggested by Clint Watson, the newly appointed press secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, to improve the method by which journalists interact with Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and Ministers of the new PLP Government.
For example, Ms Dames declares that the guidelines “proffered” by her “longtime colleague and friend, Clint Watson, amount to a solution in search of a problem.”
“They are unnecessary, inappropriate and an overreach,” Ms. Dames insists. “We have said so directly to Watson, and still believe this to be the case.”
Apparently, she could not resist the temptation to try and denigrate her “longtime colleague and friend” when she made this snide observation:
“The press secretary appears to be making busywork as he seeks to carve out something to do in his new role. To quote a senior individual in our profession, the press secretary has arrogated to himself powers that he does not have and is already giving the new government a bad image.”
In providing a foundation for her opposition to the suggested guidelines, Ms. Dames uses a common approach utilized by academics in preparing scholarly documents in support of their thesis, a process she no doubt became very familiar with while a journalism student at the University of Maryland.
Ms. Dames quoted at length from The Declaration of Chapultepec, which she said was “endorsed in 2002 by then-Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham on our nation’s behalf.”
As she noted, the document observes:
“Wherever the media can function unhindered and determine their own direction and manner of serving the public, there is a blossoming of the ability to seek information, to disseminate it without restraints, to question it without fear and to promote the free exchange of ideas and opinions. But wherever freedom of the press is curtailed, for whatever reasons, the other freedoms vanish.”
She notes that the declaration, which outlines the 10 fundamental principles necessary for a free press to perform its essential role in a democracy, also states, “The exercise of this freedom is not something authorities grant; it is an inalienable right of the people.”
Mrs. Dames then offers this comment: “This does not mean, of course, that we are to exercise our freedom in an unaccountable fashion, but it is not the role of the government or the press secretary to tell the media how we should function. It is not the role of the press secretary to create ‘structure’ for the media. As a journalist by profession, he should know better.”
Clearly, the point being made here by Ms. Dames has some merit, but what she is not taking into consideration is that the monolithic structure of the press corps in The Bahamas today definitely requires some operational guidelines.
First and foremost, we have got to accept the fact that there is a big difference today between the practice of print and broadcast journalism in The Bahamas. Of course, this is not reflected in the high standards of the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (ZNS Radio and TV) and Jones Communications (LOVE 97 Radio and JCN Channel 14-TV), but since the ironclad monopoly that ZNS on broadcasting in The Bahamas ended when former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham opened up the airwaves and granted several private broadcast licenses, there has been proliferation of radio stations that all employ “talk show hosts” – some with names that I have difficulty pronouncing – who are very opinionated and actually conduct their shows as if they are trained journalists. Make no mistake about it, they are convincingly glib and good talkers, but they are not journalists.
By the same token that there are policies delineating the “separation” of Church and State, Ms. Dames should surely agree that the guidelines suggested by Mr. Watson are appropriate regarding some broadcast journalists.
I would like to also suggest that Ms. Dames pay close attention to how U.S. President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, conducts media briefings, specifically calling on members of the press who are accredited to cover the White House. The same structure is in place at the State Department, the Pentagon and other top government departments.
The point I am making here is that reporters in Washington, D.C., do not willy-nilly determine that they will cover the White House, the State Department or the Pentagon. They first receive accreditation.
In the case of the White House, reporters who cover President Biden are are referred to as the White House Press Corps. I realize that The United States plays a far more important role in the world than The Bahamas does, but both President Biden and Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis are leaders of their respective countries and should be given the same level of respect by the Press Corps that routinely cover their activities.
What I suspect, though, is because of her accomplishments and the fact that she is a graduate of one of the leading Journalism Schools in the United States, Candia Dames thinks she is in “A League of Her Own” when it comes the practice of journalism in The Bahamas.
I’ll bet she is not a member of the Bahamas Press Club, an organization that has existed I The Bahamas for many, many years but has never attained the “powerful status” of Press Clubs in sister CARICOM countries like Jamaica, Babados and Trinidad and Tobago.
If Ms. Dames is not a member of the Bahamas Press Club, why isn’t she? As the Managing Editor of the Nassau Guardian, she is in the position to encourage all of her young and not-so-young to become members of Bahamas Press Club and join fellow journalists in making meaningful contributions to the club so that it will eventually join their counterparts Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago in being proud of the tremendous influence the Press Club has in these countries.
I recall that back in 1992, I visited Jamaica for the first time in several years as a member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NAJB) when I attended the NABJ annual convention hosted by the Jamaica Press Association (JPA) in Kingston that year. The event was like a mini-United Nations, with Black journalists from across the United States attending.
By coincidence, current Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, who was a very good friend long before then, was also in Kingston on business and we had a good time “hanging out together.”
So, if she is not a member of The Bahamas Press Club, I would like to encourage Candia Dames to lend her considerable support to fellow journalists President Anthony Capron and Secretary Lindsay Thompson in strengthening the Bahamas Press Club status in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean, rather than fomenting mischief by questioning the guidelines suggested by Mr. Watson to better supervise the interaction of journalists in The Bahamas with Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and Ministers of his government.
