Recently I talked with a visiting graduate student who is working on a media study, part of which has to do with "The changing role of newspapers in Jamaica". She told me she planned to focus on the nine months leading up to the Coke extradition as a turning point in the system.

Besides trying (with limited success) to gather from her where her research was heading and how she proposed that the information could be used, we exchanged views related to media freedom in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. She expressed some surprise when I told her that contrary to her impression that "Jamaica seemed to have a closed system of information", it remained my contention that the media here were the least restricted in the region, with the possible exception of Trinidad and Tobago. I am uncertain how convincing I may have been, given that she seemed very surprised by this information and perhaps remained unswayed.

That encounter led me to review the latest World Press Freedom Index, an annual ranking (begun in 2002) based on a world survey by Reporters Without Borders, a global outfit based in France with offices in each continent, that advocates for press freedom and freedom of information. The last time I had checked the report was in 2007 when the results for the previous year showed Jamaica positioned at 34th out of 167 countries, a fall of 10 places, but still ahead of bastions of press freedom like the United States of America which had fallen from a joint 22nd to 43rd.

At the time I recall key state figures and media personalities expressing some surprise. After all, our media landscape was expanding rapidly. Radio stations especially were appearing all over the country. Eighteen broadcasting licences had resulted in 21 radio and four television stations, and there were by then 52 subscriber television licences. In addition, the Jamaica Observer had by then survived an impressive 13 years to challenge The Gleaner's 200-year-old monopoly. Given that the new Freedom of Information Act had become a reality, one could understand the response of the then Minister of Information Burchell Whiteman: "I don't know what more levels of freedom could be required on the part of legislation or government action," he had said.

The minister's sentiments drew support from some of the biggest names in media such as the then president of the Press Association of Jamaica and news director at the Sunday Herald, Desmond Richards, as well as then senior lecturer at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication, Canute James.

So what are the latest findings? Based on recently published data for the 2011 period, Jamaica is now ranked 16 out of 179 countries. These results indicate that the country has moved up a whopping nine places from its position in 2010, and this may be one of the few social rankings, on the global scale, in which we are well ahead of all our Caribbean neighbours, or at least were in 2011. The study does credit the media climate here as favourable, and awards points for the state-sponsored "think tank" on the libel and slander laws on the books.

But what of other Caribbean countries? For 2011 the countries of the Organisation of Caribbean States were ranked as a unit at 25, up a whopping 32 places. Interestingly, Trinidad and Tobago is now ranked 50, down 20 places, while Guyana is 58, up one place and Haiti 52, up four places. Also of interest is that the UK is now ranked 28, with the US further down the scale at 47.

It is, however, important to note that this study places significant weight on factors such as number of deaths, also arrests of journalists, as well as continued state monopoly of media entities. Hence the comparatively favourable ranking for countries in this region is understandable. Still, the improved rank for Guyana is a slight surprise, given the stories about media intimidation that seem continually to come from there.

In fact, the report acknowledges the existence of concerns about poor media relations with the government of Guyana, and described the then President Bharrat Jagdeo as "sensitive to criticisms". Cited evidence to support this involved two well-publicised cases. One concerns a journalist, Gordon Moseley, attached to a privately owned television station, Capitol News, who was banned access to the Office of the President, in July 2008, because the head of state was displeased by his report on his visit to Antigua in which he referred to comments about safety problems in the capital Georgetown and failed to respond to government calls to apologise. The other case relates to sanctions against the top-selling daily Stabroek News, whereby it was denied official advertising from November 2006 to April 2008. The Government Information Agency never provided any explanation for the boycott. Over an 18-month period, public advertising in the daily was limited to a few inserts on the part of the tax authorities. The report noted that "the former president never tried to conceal his annoyance with the paper's editorial line, which has been more critical of him since his re-election in 2006." It is worth noting that since the election of a new president, the ban against Moseley has been lifted. That may explain the improvement in the country's ranking in the index. However, it is a stretch to report, as it does, that Guyana, like its neighbours in the Caribbean, "has a satisfactory record in fundamental freedoms, and that journalists there... experience very few threats or assaults".

T&T's steep fall in the ranking seems a result of a well-reported scandal involving spying on journalists, as well as alleged moves by the state to boycott some radio and television stations, as well as other "procedural abuses".

This report should draw some comments at the International Press Institute, 2012 World Congress to be hosted by Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association June 23-26, and to be chaired by the Association of Caribbean Media Workers. The interesting part is that the President of T&T Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who seems to be having a turbulent relationship with the media in her country, is scheduled to open that historic congress.

I fully intend to invite that fore-mentioned media research student to register for the Congress.

antoye@gmail.com

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