|
|
|
 |
|
|
Journalist Association at Caribbean meeting
by The Daily Herald
Posted: Nov 7, 2005 14:54 UTC
|
PHILIPSBURG - St. Maarten was represented at the third biennial General Membership Meeting of the Association of Caribbean Media workers (ACM) in Barbados on Friday through St. Maarten Journalist Association (SJA) Interim President Marvin Hokstam. Regional journalists agreed to issue resolutions on several issues of concern.
Among issues to be tabled in the resolution are the recent mistreatment of journalists in Haiti, government- and politics-imposed impediments of the practice of a free media throughout the Caribbean region, and a looming judgment in Suriname in which a Government body demands that a local newspaper never again reports on this Government body.
The resolutions will be issued shortly, disseminated through the region’s media and dispatched to the leaders of government in the Caribbean territories in question.
The meeting in Barbados was attended by media representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
Co-founder and ACM President Wesley Gibbings of Trinidad, who recently visited St. Maarten, presented “The Looming Storm,” a CD ROM containing the State of the Caribbean Media report, which was compiled through a regionally distributed questionnaire in which Caribbean media workers’ associations answered questions regarding media issues in their territories.
The name chosen for the report should serve as an indication of where things are at in the region regarding media. A copy of the report is available for St. Maarten journalists who are interested.
A lively discussion ensued when all country representatives were asked to give more in-depth reports on their countries. Hokstam briefly spoke of the state of the media in St. Maarten. He said that though the issues we deal with here are “bleak” in comparison to what journalists in other countries experience, he had given an account of the troubles local journalists encounter in their dealings with politicians.
He also explained that as most journalists here were foreigners, their residential status could easily be used by politicians as a threat. The issue of The National journalist Leonard Gildarie was also discussed and ACM stated that it continued to monitor its development.
The meeting also saw the election of a new executive board that will lead ACM for the next two years. Gibbings, who insisted on not being nominated for a third term, was succeeded by his countryman Dale Enoch. Gibbings was elected to the post of General-Secretary.
Peter Richards, also of Trinidad, was elected First Vice President/Treasurer and Bert Wilkinson of Guyana Second Vice President. Nita Ramcharan, a veteran Suriname journalist, was elected Assistant General Secretary. Floor members are Jamaican journalist and media trainer Canute James and Grenadian journalist Michael Bascombe.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Content © The Daily Herald 2005 - All Rights Reserved.
You may bookmark this web page, print it or e-mail it to
a friend in accordance with the fair-use provisions of
copyright laws. The material is intended solely for the use
of the individual user.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this
material
on other terms, in any medium, requires the express
written permission of the author or publication and the
notification of the editors of Caribseek News. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
