By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 6, 2021 – Naysayers who were critical of the guidelines suggested by Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) Press Secretary Clint Watson in October to govern press conferences surely by now must have revised their negative opinions of the choice of Mr. Watson as Press Secretary to Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis.
As a veteran Bahamian journalist, I was immensely impressed by Mr. Watson’s performance on the “world’s stage” as Press Secretary during Prime Minister Davis’ recent highly successful participation in the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
Using his Facebook page primarily as his news dissemination platform, Mr. Watson kept The Bahamas up-to-date on the activities in which the Prime Minister was involved shortly after the event and in some cases while the event was going on.
Hosted by the UK under the presidency of former business secretary Alok Sharma and in partnership with Italy, the summit, held at Glasgow’s SEC Centre, brought together the “biggest gathering of world leaders ever assembled on British soil…,” according to The Glasgow Independent.
Prime Minister Davis addressed COP26 on Tuesday, November 2, and received high praise at home and abroad for delivering a remarkable speech.
A number of Bahamians who later saw a video of the speech posted on Facebook by Mr. Watson expressed pride in being Bahamian in responses under the video similar to this one by Lionel F Evans Sr., “Well done…Mr. Prime Minister…You’ve made us Bahamians proud to be Bahamian…Its truly…A New Day!”
The Prime Minister and the Bahamian delegation left Glasgow on Wednesday, November 3, and stopped in London for two days before returning to The Bahamas on Friday, November 5.
On his arrival in London, Mr. Watson noted on his Facebook page that the Prime Minister was greeted by Bahamian High Commissioner H.E. Ellison Greenslade and later hosted to a dinner with government officials from The Bahamas.
On Thursday, November 4, the Prime Minister appeared live on Great Britain’s leading morning show, “Good Morning Britain.”
Later on Thursday, he met with Bahamas High Commission and tourism staff in London, and later on Thursday, he was interviewed by The London Daily Mail’s Editor Liz Hunt.
Given the Mr. Watson’s noteworthy demonstration of his journalistic skills as Press Secretary while accompanying the Prime Minister to the COP26 summit, it would be interesting to see whether his regular press briefings will generate more respect from “senior members” of the press corps in The Bahamas.
As I noted in a previous article in response to criticism of Mr. Watson’s press briefing guidelines, his critics should pay close attention to how U.S. President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, conducts her 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.
It bears repeating that the point I was making 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 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, as was the case at COP26, both were given the same level of respect by the Press Corps.
I also hope that Mr. Watson’s journalistic proficiency at COP26 provides some impetus for the leadership of The Bahamas Press Club to establish some goals that would help the club attain the “powerful status” of Press Clubs in sister CARICOM countries like Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
I covered Jamaica’s independence in 1962 as a young reporter with The Tribune, and its Press Club at the time was heavily involved in organizing official activities for the working press.
Some years later, when I was living In Washington, D.C. and as News Editor of the Washington Informer, I visited Jamaica in 1992 as a member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NAJB), which held its annual convention in Jamaica that year, and it was hosted by Jamaica Press Association (JPA). The event, held in Kingston, 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.”
For what it’s worth, as my late friend and fellow journalist P. Anthony White used to end his columns, I strongly suggest that Bahamas Press Club President Anthony Capron and Secretary Lindsay Thompson seek the assistance of Clint Watson in elevating the Bahamas Press Club’s status to a similar level as in Jamaica.
