Dear Editor,

The Observer carried some welcome news this week where Rev Everald Edwards of the Twickenham Park Open Bible Church invited media practitioners to unite in the fight against injustice and corruption in Jamaica.

Journalists in Jamaica are between a rock and a hard place, which makes their jobs very challenging because of the three different nationalities in Jamaica they must satisfy. Yes, they must please the “JLPians”, the “PNPians”, then finally the Jamaicans – no easy task. The JLPians want the media to carry the kind of news that will belittle the PNPians and mislead the Jamaicans. The PNPians are looking for news in the paper that will show the JLPians as incompetent and portray their party as the better choice.

In every country you have many different nationalities, but that doesn’t stop the media from reporting fairly and justly. However, I am afraid that is not the case in Jamaica. The media needs to take its place in society and report the truth, and nothing but the truth. Failing to report illegal acts for fear of hurting a certain section of society is in the same league as corruption.

Media workers have to tell themselves that they have a job to do and that is to report the truth. Take, for example, an investigation carried by the BBC on Monday November 29, reporting that three FIFA executives were taking bribes, three days before the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup votes. Even though the BBC knows this might spoil the country’s chance to win the bid, it still goes ahead to report wrongdoing in the sport.

We will never get good reporting from our journalists if they continue to be biased towards one set of groups. The Press Association of Jamaica and the media houses must give their members and journalists a set of guidelines for using Facebook and other social media. It is better to draw up common guidelines than issue separate instructions for different departments and individuals. Journalists should be advised not to use the social media for confidential communication with news sources and people being interviewed. They should be told also that joining various support groups will hamper the way they report to the wider public. Openly joining a group will surely make some readers question a journalist’s objectivity when reporting on related matters. For example, if a journalist writes about bauxite issues, it would be a wise idea to stay away from groups that either support or oppose bauxite. Nevertheless, they should be urged to use the social media in spite of the related problems.

On many occasions when one reads the newspapers where journalists are covering a political meeting, one has to wonder if these journalists were at the same meeting. Sometimes the articles are so different that we ask ourselves if these politicians are really giving the media different stories to mislead the public and set up different media houses against each other. The journalists must be professional, write articles that will unite the country, report news that will expose corruption, expose injustice in the justice system, and write news that you yourself will feel proud about.

Hero Scott

herocarlito@yahoo.com