CATEGORY:FEATURE ADDRESS
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By Trevor Thwaites
Inside Grenada correspondent
Friday December 15,2006



ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada - Media practitioners across the region are being encouraged to lift their standard, so that they can play a more integral role in the development of their societies. The growth and development of the Media over the years has being built around the adage from the great Englishman Lord Donaldson that “The media is the eyes and ears of the nations, which has a crucial role to play in parliamentary democracy”.

President of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) Dale Enoch, urged local journalists to stick fast to the old addage, by producing work of the highest quality. “Standards in the media have not been good as they should be. Certainly, the work is being done, but in many parts of the region our standards have failed miserably”, Enoch said as he spoke at the recent inaugural awards ceremony of the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG) held in St George’s.

Enoch is of the belief that there is some cloudiness pertaining to the roles of media practitioners regarding what they have to do and how they should execute their jobs. The ACM President said that journalists need to return to basics and understand the important role they have to play in a free society. “The time is now for us to do all that. If we don’t the powers that be would recognize the weakness and seek to capitalize on this. The integrity and credibility of the work must be protected”.

The ACM President called on the Media Workers Association of Grenada and other media entities across the region, to lead the charge by ensuring that standards improve. He expressed grave concern about the low standard of media work especially in the field of radio, which has seen a proliferation in recent times. There are currently more than a dozen media entities –radio and television stations here, a drastic increase in the last two decades when there was probably only two or three.

Enoch said that it is a similar situation in his country, Trinidad and Tobago, which has also seen a steady upsurge of media entities during the period, with some 33 being registered at the moment.

“We have more radio, but the quality leaves a lot to be desired. Quantity is not quality. The almost always limited submissions from radio in awards like this is indicative of that poor and unacceptable standard of work”, he pointed out.

Enoch appealed to media practitioners here to provide staunch support to MWAG in its attempts to lift media standards. He said that despite the struggles ahead, it is crucial that the bad times, struggles and hard work are effectively addressed. “Strong associations can only be a benefit to the profession, the public we serve and the democracy”.

Enoch praised the work of MWAG, which he said is definitely one of the strong pillars of the regional network that make up the ACM. “President Bascombe’s involvement at the executive level of the association has been tremendous”.