CATRGORY: MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

By Trevor Thwaites (St.George's correspondent)

ST.GEORGE’S, Grenada: Media workers in Grenada have been told that they must leave no stones unturned in the development of a highly professional and effective media. “Focus must constantly be paid to developing the Profession. Training initiatives are critical,” President of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers Association (ACM) Dale Enoch, told local journalists during a luncheon in St George’s at the Tropicana Restaurant in St George’s on Monday June 19.

Close to two dozen representatives from the various media entities in the country participated in the luncheon sponsored by Cable and Wireless. Enoch said that training initiatives are critical for the growth and advancement of the media around the world. He noted that the media has been expanding across the region, but the standards in many countries needs to be developed and enhanced. “Standards and quality appear to be lacking with this expansion. More does not necessarily mean better.”

Enoch has encouraged his local counterparts to empower themselves by seeking to access their own training, because waiting for media owners to provide the necessary training is not always a good idea. “Over the years, our media owners have not done enough by way of training and development. Therefore we in the organizations have had to lead the way with our very limited financial and other resources. We have had to lean on sponsors, international agencies to get this training done,” he pointed out.

The highly touted Trinidad and Tobago Media Practitioner told the local media that developing skills and true professional are crucial to the outcome of the product. He encouraged his counterparts to look within themselves to see what they can do on their own to empower themselves. Enoch had some recommendation. “We must start by respecting ourselves and the work that we do. This must be encouraged. We must also respect the listener, the viewer and the reader by bettering the product that we dish out. We have to ensure what we put out is quality.”

He said that respect for the public can be measured by the work disseminated because the public demand certain things. “They expect us to know what we are doing. They expect us to be informed and they expect us to produce quality work. Those are not expectations that are unreasonable. They are reasonable expectations and when our public calls for them, we should be delivering.” Enoch encouraged the local media fraternity to constantly review its work and be very critical of it. “That is very important. Criticize each other. One of the functions of an association like MWAG, is where you can get together and sometimes assess the work you are doing, even it is contentious. There must be some kind of avenue or vehicle created for that kind of introspection.”

He said that when corrective action is taken to fix the ills of the profession, then you will be doing yourselves and the profession a good. A well equipped and informed practitioner can only be a plus for the individual and the profession and the public that we serve. The president of the Association Caribbean Media Workers Association praised the work of MWAG over the years. He said that in the face recent turmoil natural and otherwise, it has remained a force. “You have made yourself into something that is formidable,” he said.



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