Brace yourself for heightened aggression from the police! That’s the message I received from the recent television interview with Commissioner of Police (CoP) Gary Griffith about the police killing of five young men in Laventille. To paraphrase this very powerful citizen, anyone who objects to his approach either has not …
Read More »Media Monitor: “Disgrantle” resident and “prioritarise-ing” minister star in messy flood coverage
The one thing that disaster should never be is haha funny. Regrettably, nobody bothered to tell TV6. Or sister OCM station i95.5fm. On yesterday’s 7pm TV news, there was this guy from Greenvale fuming about the inadequacy of the $15,000 grant that Government has offered certified victims of last weekend’s …
Read More »Media Monitor: Reporting quality the genesis of enduring WI woes? Writers needed to right cricket ship
Asked to name his best-ever West Indies squad, Lloyd Best named as his very first selectee the dean of West Indian cricket writers, Tony Cozier. This was in the late 1990s; we did not yet know that, like the Israelites in the Old Testament, we West Indians would be condemned …
Read More »Cunningham: I probably erred; TTFA board member explains role in secretive Home of Football visit
On Sunday 19 August 2018, the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) began preparation for two functions at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva on the following day. One event was a sit-down with TTFA technical director and caretaker Women’s National Senior Team coach Anton Corneal and dealt with his …
Read More »Whodunnit?! Mr Live Wire searches for source of Express’ KPMG report on Gary Griffith
Scene: Dark, almost deserted car park in west Trinidad. Mr Live Wire makes his way towards the lone vehicle in the area. Suddenly, the vehicle switches its high beam light on, almost blinding him. Mr Live Wire: Hello?! Hello?! A figure steps out of the vehicle. Mr Live Wire can …
Read More »NCRHA slams Guardian over Powell’s cancer and surgery claims; threatens legal action
“The report claims that Michael Powell lost half of his right foot to cancer. Fact: Cancer has not been diagnosed in any patient with that name ‘who lost half of their right foot’ currently being treated by the NCRHA… “We’ve taken the strong position that this trend of inaccurate reporting …
Read More »Media Monitor: NIF, NoF, Nuff; can Government really bank on OCM?
If you watched the TV6 7pm News on Thursday, then you should have a clear idea of how deep in the doodoo our media are. And since One Caribbean Media (OCM) is one of the five companies on whose entire or partial assets the National Investment Fund is “collateralised”—not my …
Read More »Media Monitor: The problem with the T&T media’s World Cup coverage; aite!
The Trinidad Express probably thinks that the World Cup craze is so all-pervasive that they don’t need to bother too much about the rest of the paper. Here is a sentence from last Friday’s Editorial, headlined “Facts the antidote to fake news:” “Evidently hot under the collar, he—the reference was …
Read More »“I can’t argue with gold!” TTOC president speaks on Ahye, St Louis, elite funding and the Commonwealth Games
“I think what has happened is more and more you are seeing athletes in various sports exercising their right to choose or take decisions that they believe are in their best benefit. It is no longer the athletes are pawns to be used. “[…] People talk about accountability and taxpayers’ …
Read More »MATT offers LGBTQI “sensitivity” training for journalists, declines to “point fingers”
“Rather than point fingers at media houses or individuals, MATT has taken the decision to focus on increasing sensitivity and awareness in coverage of LGBT issues in the media.” The following media statement on LGBTQI sensitivity training for journalists was issued by the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT): …
Read More »“[An] obzocky boulder in dirty water!” Dr Rampersad explains how Guardian got Ahye story wrong
The Guardian didn’t do a shitty thing; they did a shitty job. Fleeing from journalistic intelligence, skill and artfulness, they saw the kernel of a legitimate news story, wrapped it in cultural conformity and late afternoon testosterone, then dropped that obzocky boulder into dirty water. The splatter soiled; the shame …
Read More »Media Monitor: Go brave, Guardian Media; just keep right on maccoing Michelle-Lee
As a once respected media house, the Guardian may well believe maccoing to be its thing. But as a former journalism lecturer, I am very sure it isn’t mine. I am not, therefore, in the least interested in knowing who Michelle-Lee Ahye’s partner is. Or his or her sex. Or his or her gender. …
Read More »