BTColumn – Genuine commentary misrepresented

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Peter W Wickham

Two letters appeared in your pages on Monday 1st October 2020 under the respective captions Who Remembers the Names of Pollsters and Wickham’s Take on Reifer Insulting and both appeared to have focused on one sentence of a comprehensive interview with one of your reporters, earlier in the week.

One author admitted that he did not attempt to contextualise the statement, while the other did not say, but he clearly did not either.

In the final analysis both are guilty of the most unfortunate and might I say wicked mischaracterisation of a genuine commentary in pursuit of what are clearly political objectives.

The accusation of wickedness is appropriate since the October 3rd edition of your paper carried a comprehensive report of the conversation with your reporter Kareem Smith, under the headline “DLP’s best chance” and this was actually quite flattering of Reifer and suggested that he had the “greatest chance of defeating Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) candidate Senator Toni Moore”.

I went on to note that the ”onus will be on Reifer in the coming weeks to prove his usefulness beyond the boundaries of cricket”.

Thankfully the conversation was recorded and therefore Smith could attest to the fact that I mentioned Sir Wes as the prime example of a former cricketer who struggled initially to gain acceptance, but ultimately succeeded and he can also attest to the fact that I mentioned Imran Khan as another fine example of a former cricketer who leveraged his popularity against a successful political career.

I was therefore appalled to see my critic suggesting that I had no knowledge of these fine examples after which Reifer could pattern himself.

Smith might also want to review the interview and note the fact that I also made the point that the Mighty Gabby [Dr The Most Honourable Anthony Carter] (whose popularity and achievements surpasses that of Reifer by a significant margin) ran and lost in Bridgetown in 1994 and this speaks volumes about the public’s proclivity to compartmentalise celebrities.

Against this background I would think that my “advice” to Reifer that he seek to prove his usefulness beyond the boundaries of cricket is a fair and sincere comment that has deliberately been taken out of context for reasons that were not immediately obvious.

The strategy; however, became clear when the DLP articulated a narrative under the moniker “A Patriotic Barbadian” who seems to be suggesting that the BLP’s mission is to portray Reifer as “Just a Cricketer”.

It is most unfortunate that Barbados TODAY would allow its editorial pages to be used to advance the DLP’s political spin and perhaps I should also to think twice before offering a genuine comment to one of your reporters in the future, less I be associated with this type of nonsense again.

Peter W Wickham is Director of Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES).