PAJ blasts Jamaica House for restricting access to PM
KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) this morning blasted Jamaica House for restricting media access to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller while urging the Government to give the local press the respect it deserves.
The association took issue with “the disgraceful position taken by Jamaica House” to restrict media access to Simpson Miller, who “has given very few in-depth interviews during her term in office which would allow individual journalists to adequately probe her ideas and policies”.
They argued that “the prime minister has given very few in-depth interviews during her term in office which would allow individual journalists to adequately probe her ideas and policies. Even more importantly, however, the prime minister has, for over two years, refused to hold any press conferences for the wider press corps.”
“The prime minister’s steadfast refusal to face the media is unprecedented in modern times, and is contemptuous of and dismissive of the Jamaican press to an unbelievable degree,” the association said.
The importance of press conferences, PAJ noted, lies in the fact that all journalists are able to attend and pose a wide variety of questions.
“We urge Jamaica House to begin to pay the local press the respect it deserves, and to immediately begin to schedule regular press conferences with the Prime Minister, for the benefit of the public which we serve,” the release said.