PLP chairman Raynard Rigby’s recent attack on the media harkens back to the “old days of censorship” and is suggests the existence of a new culture of intimidation, the Free National Movement charged yesterday.
Mr Rigby remarks last week, the FNM said, are an example of how some younger elements in the PLP have adopted and made their own the legacy of press censorship and intimidation practiced by the party through six consecutive terms in office.
The FNM further said that the PLP’s words and actions demonstrate that those in control of the party are still uncomfortable with the more transparent and accountable style of government ushered in by the FNM administration.
“Comments made by chairman Raynard Rigby concerning press objectivity are reminiscent of remarks made by political functionaries and apparatchiks in one-party states who believe they can threaten and intimidate the press into submission.
“They are not comments which should be made by a party chairman in a modern democratic state such as the Bahamas. Mr Rigby’s comments also suggest an extraordinary misunderstanding of journalism, including the difference between opinion pieces and basic news stories,” the FNM said.
In a press conference last week, Mr Rigby “cautioned” the Bahamian media – and The Tribune in particular – accusing its reporters of printing “lies.”
He also claimed that some quarters of the press are on a “systematic campaign of biases and unfair reporting.”
The FNM called the accusation that the Bahamian press lacks objectivity “a stunning act of hypocrisy on the part of a party which tightly controlled, manipulated and monopolised the broadcast media for a quarter of a century.”
“Perhaps Mr Rigby and like-minded members of his party should go through the archives of the very print media he mindlessly threatens. There they will find a history lesson on how their party refused to let alternative voices be heard on ZNS television and radio.
“In those days many people opposed to the governing party, including senior opposition politicians were denied access to the airwaves for decades. Even contributions made to policy debates by the people’s representatives in parliament were routinely suppressed or so mangled by PLP spin doctors at the state broadcast headquarters they were rendered meaningless.”
The FNM especially criticised the fact the country’s most-watched television station is still government-controlled.
“Nowadays, the leader of the opposition notes that the national broadcast service neglected to cover his announced and advertised rallies in Exuma and Long lsland. Worse, ZNS frequently refuses to carry statements made by the FNM, its leader and its spokesmen, but routinely carries the responses to those statements issued by the governing party’s various spokesmen and representatives,” the FNM said.
Objectivity
The opposition party said that Mr Rigby’s statements and concerns may have been taken more seriously “if they also commented on the concern by the public and many of the dedicated professionals of ZNS as to the seeming abandonment of objectivity in the corporation’s news coverage under its new managerial regime.”
“Today’s newscasts on ZNS increasingly blur the line between opinion and news. Indeed for those who listen to news broadcasts on both ZNS and Cable 12, it is increasingly difficult to believe that the reports cover the same city and country.
“The constant propaganda surrounding various government projects echoed on ZNS is coming fast and furious. Some heads of agreement signings have been repeated so often that we feel we can now narrate the stories ourselves if ZNS turned the sound down,” the party said.
The Tribune
