KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Leader, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, and People’s National Party (PNP) President, Opposition Leader Mark Golding, were questioned at Thursday night’s election debate about the attacks on the local media by the political parties they lead.

Interestingly, both leaders of the country reiterated their commitment to press freedom while throwing blame at each other’s political organisations for seeking to object to local journalists participating in the three election debates.

Before the start of the election debates, the names of journalists whom both political parties allegedly objected to participating in the event were made public and were alluded to in the question posed to Holness by CVM Television’s Giovanni Dennis.

“Why do both parties continue to undermine press freedom and put journalists in danger?” Dennis asked.

In response, Holness said, “To be clear, my political party does not undermine press freedom. To be clear, my political party did not object [to any journalists participating in the debates]; the objections came from the PNP, and historically, it is the PNP that has been vociferous, including attacking a particular radio station.”

According to the JLP leader, he has stayed away from negative commentary regarding any local journalist.

“Journalists are important, and I support strong journalism, and I want to make that absolutely clear,” Holness said.

Golding, in his response to the question, described press freedom as “a fundamental pillar on which democracy is based”.

“…And I and my party (the PNP) fully support press freedom,” Golding maintained.

He also made claims that the JLP had raised objections to some journalists participating in the national debates as either questioners or moderators. The JLP has denied such claims.

“Their (the JLP) side also objected to [some journalists]. In fact, we (the PNP) objected to three [journalists], they (the JLP) objected to four journalists, and the matter was eventually resolved, and here we are,” Golding alleged.

“And the truth is some journalists in the country are not as independent as others and are not as professional as others, and it is quite legitimate to criticise persons who you don’t think [or] feel [are] living up to the standards of their profession, but we would not do anything to threaten or undermine press freedom, or indeed to make any journalist feel unsafe,” the PNP president said.