BARJAM Statement on World Press Freedom Day

Greetings to all and a very special salute to the hard working and productive members of the reputable media fraternity in Barbados on this World Press Freedom Day 2020.

On behalf of the Barbados Association of Journalists and Media Workers (BARJAM), I say to all media personnel, especially the frontline reporters and photographers and their media houses, stand up and take a bow for weathering the COVID-19 storm which is still raging, to keep this country abreast of developments surrounding this devastating virus.

Your day will come for reward in this generally thankless profession.

But while the COVID-19 virus has blocked a number of plans and programmes by BARJAM that would have benefitted media practitioners between January and now, we have still been able to make progress on several other issues affecting you.

I can announce that following a proposal submitted to the Attorney General Dale Marshall requesting permission for reporters to do audio recordings of the proceedings of the law courts, we have been officially informed that the BARJAM request has been forwarded to the Registrar for her input and the input of the magistracy and judiciary.

We look forward to a favourable outcome.

I can also tell you that while media awards which had been planned in partnership with the Argentine Embassy to coincide with World Press Freedom Day this month had to be cancelled due to the lockdown, the US Embassy is now onboard with us to fund a major media awards slated for late November.  The BARJAM Executive recently held a virtual meeting with the Embassy officials to discuss some of the logistics and a joint Press release has been agreed on.

Members of the media will be fully apprised of the details in the coming days and weeks as the executive fine tunes the nuts and bolts of this occasion. It is expected to recognize works in the areas of photography, videography, news story/feature; sports story/feature; journalist of the year; talk show host of the year; radio and television programme of the year; rookie media worker of the year and PRO/Corporate Communications Specialist of the Year.

BARJAM also made successful representation to the leadership of a key organization in this country which had on two occasions in February and March, turned back media workers who had been assigned by their editors to cover those events and for which notice had been received by the media houses.

Based on the proposals outlined in the entity’s response letter to us, following what they described as a series of miscommunications, and once they act on their measures, the conflict between media professionals and the organization is unlikely to happen again.

I can also state that a window of hope has been opened for the news media and the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) to work more closely together in a mutual and respectful partnership of information flow. I cannot say anything more specific at this time, except that I represented BARJAM earlier this year where I was invited to address an interactive session for security operations personnel of the BDF during a one-week training workshop in which media relations was a key component.

The Army Media Relations Expert from the United States who conducted the training suggested that a BDF-Media Relations Policy would be a good place to start in developing a partnership after I spoke of the local media already having a policy and formal relationship with the Royal Barbados Police Force. More on that in due course.

BARJAM has also been recently admitted to sit on the UNDP’s Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme National Steering Committee for Barbados (GEF SGP). The programme offers financial and technical support to civil society organizations for community driven projects that contribute to conserving global biodiversity, adapting and mitigating global climate change, protecting international waters and preventing land degradation. I am the BARJAM representative in my capacity as president.

There were a number of other training opportunities for media workers that went a begging due to the COVID-19 enemy including an investigative journalism workshop slated for this month, a Crisis Communications seminar to coincide with the start of the hurricane season next month and an information-sharing workshop with the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA), with whom we have formed a partnership.

Some BARJAM members have also been in Zoom meetings with a number of entities to discuss information flow and the conditions under which journalists are working during the COVID crisis.

These entities included the Association of Caribbean Media (ACM) and the US Embassy which days ago, facilitated what it called an “Infodemic” that addressed disinformation during COVID.  That was moderated by BARJAM Floor Member and veteran media professional Trevor Thorpe of motoring news fame.  He represented well.

And finally, BARJAM still has at the top of its agenda, the establishment of a Benevolent Fund to assist members who fall on hard times and the need for Government to introduce that long-mooted Freedom of Information Bill into Parliament.

We also place on record our acknowledgement of the Government’s decision to declare the media an essential service during the State of Public Health Emergency and hope that this designation is not only for times of crisis, but for all time.

Emmanuel Joseph President – BARJAM