Two things happened this week to set me off on the path on which I am about to embark. The first, not in chronological order, was the passing of the Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (Caiso) head Colin Robinson, which occurred in the US on Thursday morning. Colin …
Read More »Media musings—Pt 2: Opinion, reporting and commentary; the reason I write
“If you believe only in facts and forget stories,” Cassandra Clare writes in Lord of Shadows, “your brain will live but your heart will die.” So here is a short story that illustrates, I think, how the brain keeps itself alive, serendipitously collecting its own facts. Green Corner, Port-of-Spain, circa …
Read More »Media musings: I tweet, therefore I am? Facts, truth and reader education
Lloyd Best used to say that Trinidad and Tobago is a country where people walk about with their heads empty. That may explain why, for so many of us Trinis, facts are sacred things. “Facts are facts,” India’s Jawaharlal Nehru once declared, “and they will not disappear on account of …
Read More »Media Monitor: Is it reporters or media managers who manufacture facts and opinions about Gary Griffith?
“Long live the media!” Thus does unapologetic democrat Noble Philip sign off his latest piece, which appeared in Wired868 last Thursday. Essentially, the column sets out to defend media cockroaches against unwarranted attacks from Gary ‘Motor Mouth’ Griffith. I’m not sure it quite achieves that goal. Having over the years …
Read More »Noble: Don’t fear media scrutiny, Mr Commissioner; alarming allegations from Skeete story
From the Sunday Express headline on the 24th, ‘Gary choked me’, to the Newsday report of an affidavit on the 27th, headlined ‘Gary never touched me’, the story is staggering and deeply concerning. The initial Express report alleged that the police commissioner choked and threatened a Cocorite resident, Mr Cecil …
Read More »Media Monitor: Oh mih Guardian! The Grandma of St Vincent St under an editorial spell?
As the Guardian last week marched into April, something seemed to have been taking place behind the scenes. My suspicion is that, with Shelly Dass now officially fired, someone from the CCN group who knows English has crossed the floor and taken up new responsibilities in the print section of …
Read More »Dear Editor: A veteran media worker points to alleged abuses of power by Fourth Estate
“One late September weekend in 2017, a local TV news anchor ‘switched gears’ to a packaged story about a central Trinidad resident, whose home had been ‘ravaged’ by flooding, never mind he and his family were still living in it. The camera showed scenes of damage as the voice of the homeowner …
Read More »Daly Bread: Break-ins, break-outs and Govt’s blunder of appeasement
This troubled Sunday morning, let’s view the continuing Chief Justice saga through the prism of Watergate. On 22 July 1973, the headline on the front page of the Washington was ‘Nixon sees witch-hunt.’ At that time, the now famed Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, were actively pursuing the …
Read More »Editorial: All sides or no side; Wired868 guarantees readers continued vigilance and responsible journalism
The definition of journalism in the Age of Social Media is a work in progress. It is work to which, we flatter ourselves, Wired868 is a major contributor in terms of the Trinidad and Tobago media landscape. As involved as we are, however, in the nitty-gritty, as involved as we …
Read More »Media Monitor: 4.5 percent disrespectful, i95.5 percent e-literate and 100 percent wrong about Pro League story!
“I know English. Goodbye.” Click. That was how an exchange between i95.5’s Andre E. Baptiste’s exchange with a caller on his Saturday Sports programme ended yesterday evening. Trying to get back on, the caller was immediately cut off. My slave name—thank you, Dr Fergus—is a superlative and I am a …
Read More »Dear Editor: Do Port-of-Spain-based media have inherent bias against Indian culture?
“[Joan] Rampersad’s ‘December’ section highlighted the relocation of Desperadoes Steel Orchestra, a film featuring the Mighty Sparrow, the trial of soca artistes Machel Montano and Kernal Roberts, and the QED, Lydians and Marionettes Christmas concerts. Not a single Indian cultural event was mentioned.” The following Letter to the Editor, which charges …
Read More »Dear Editor: Are women less equal than men? Media should leave Weekes’ private life alone!
“Men who hold high office in our society are never asked these questions by our journalists, regardless of the number of rumours that fly about on social media. That is because they are entitled to have their most private lives kept private, save and except where it seriously affects their …
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