KINGSTON – One of the country’s newspapers, Stabroek News, was put on blast by the Public Works Ministry for its inaccurate reporting. Below is a statement that was issued by the Ministry on August 29.
The responsibility of any reputable media house is to report the facts and provide fair and balanced stories.
Unfortunately, Stabroek News failed miserably in this regard in an article that is published in today’s (August 29) edition titled “Timehri North residents protest restricted attendance at the relocation meeting”.
While there are some glaring inaccuracies the most serious blunder questions the level of professionalism and groundwork carried out by some of today’s reporters.
The meeting that was held on August 28 catered for those squatters who are living in the key zone needed for the first phase of the airport expansion, and the Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, informed them of their relocation options, including Yarrowkabra.
Officials from the Housing Ministry were present to guide those who never applied for a house lot on the procedure and pledged to fast track those [applications] already in the system.
At that meeting, which squatters in attendance can attest to, and for which both videotape and audio tape recording exist, at no time did Minister Benn announced a $1.5M compensation package or a $10,000 transportation fee for their relocation.
The hear-say syndrome which seems to be practiced by some media houses needs to addressed urgently – after all they are required to be the gatekeepers of the truth.
Filtering unchecked information to the public not only puts the media houses in a bad light but it also highlights the deterioration in quality reporting.
