MIC Newsletter - June 19th, 2023 |
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Participants of the MIC and PAJ Civic Space collaboration held at the Jamaica |
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MIC and Internews in collaboration with the Press Association of Jamaica examines the Civic Space in Jamaica
On 3rd June, twenty-five individuals representing the media and civil society organizations came together for a one-day workshop to explore issues related to the civic space and how these stories could be effectively rendered. A recent study was done within three communities in Jamaica (Kingston, Clarendon. St. Catherine) among 300 respondents. Key findings included the lack of visibility of CSOs working on civic rights; community engagement and information spaces require trust and legitimacy of media and state actors; and age is a determinant of community perspectives on public safety and individual civic rights. The full report will be available at the end of June.
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Reporting on Technology takes centre stage in Trinidad and Tobago
TSTT (Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago) and The Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA) supported by MIC presented a workshop presented this one day session on 23rd May. Journalists heard from presenters Mark Lyndersay, Celia Gibbings, Wesley Gibbings, Kiran Maharaj, David Ho and Clare Wardle (founder of First Draft). The high level of interaction showed the significance and keen interest on technology coverage. The focus on disinformation and misinformation as well as artificial intelligence raised the concern of the future of newsrooms. MIC will be doing a follow up virtual session for Caribbean journalists at a date to soon be announced.
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Researcher finds journalists in Trinidad and Tobago operate in an environment of censorship
Study on journalism culture reveals advertising pressures and media laws chill the newsroom and cause fear of reprisals
A study on journalism culture conducted by Dr Aurora Herrera from City, University of London has found that journalists in Trinidad and Tobago censor their work to comply with expectations and avert pressures from various sources.
The study was conducted through ethnography, where observation of the journalism culture within six newsrooms - three newspapers and three television stations – was carried out. In addition, ninety-three in depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with media managers, editors and journalists who worked within those newsrooms. Research focused on how journalists perceived and performed their roles and defined their own culture.
Key findings include the contradictory nature of local journalists where a journalist’s intention to uphold the public interest functions in tandem with their simultaneous acceptance of inducements and engagement in political clientelism to make ends meet. This has been recognised as a new professional milieu: the controlled watchdog.
Other pertinent findings show that editors and investigative journalists felt the chill of media laws rather than regular journalists. However, these regular journalists felt the economic chill of advertisers and other financial contributors more than the legal chill, causing them to self censor their work. Risk of reprisals in the newsroom as well as by those they cover, were also identified as deterrents to reporting freely.
“Trinidad and Tobago is often thrown in with Africa or Latin America when research inspired policy is tabled,” Herrera said. “It is crucial that we stand on our own as a country, as a region. Our journalism culture is unique and nuanced, and cannot be measured by a blanket index created by foreign institutions. These indexes present an inaccurate picture of freedom, obscuring the real extent of censorship and control that happens in our country.”
Herrera went on to say that this study can be used as an evidential basis to amend and craft updated policy on the Libel and Defamation Act, the Data Protection Act, The Cybercrime Bill and the Interception of Communication Act.
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MIC UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
Business Journalism
Multimedia Reporting
Digital Security
Financial Reporting
Please monitor our website and social media feeds for more information.
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MIC is the regional partner for Civicus Monitor
The global raking of the civic space is done by Civicus Monitor (https://monitor.civicus.org/) who is improving its monitoring in the Caribbean via reports from MIC’s journalists and researchers. The countries included are Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Barbados, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The reports will be published on the Civicus Monitor website.
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MIC Freedom of and Access to Information Help Desk offer free services to Pan Caribbean region
If you need to file a FOI or ATI request and need assistance with preparing the letter, use the MIC FI ATI Help Desk. Developed to support the work of journalists across the Caribbean region, this free service is can be accessed even in countries who do not have FOI or ATI legislation and seeks to encourage a free flow of information in the public interest.
Contact the Help Desk for more information by emailing: mic.foiahelpdesk@gmail.com
Check out our E-book on FOI and ATI.
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SPECIAL FEATURES ALERT
STORIES CAN BE REPUBLISHED FREE OF CHARGE WITH CREDIT TO CIJN
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Exploratory drilling is ongoing in Suriname’s waters as the country awaits a Final Investment Decision from two companies that first discovered deep-water oil there in 2020.
Photo credit: Staatsolie
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For the people of Suriname, offshore oil is supposed to be a game-changer.
As they have struggled through a protracted economic crisis over the past decade, they have watched lucrative deep-water discoveries transform neighbouring Guyana.
They have also heard their own leaders promise that a similar oil boom will come soon to Suriname, bringing badly needed jobs and wealth for the country’s more than 600,000 people and helping resolve a debt crisis that recently led to riots in the capital.
But the people are still waiting.
The Final Investment Decision for Suriname’s first deep-water drilling project has been deferred repeatedly, and mounting frustration with the delay has highlighted the secrecy surrounding the nascent industry.
“We should at least know what kind of contracts have been made, and don’t come up with stories that it’s confidential between us and [foreign oil companies],” Surinamese environmentalist Erlan Sleur told the Caribbean Investigative Journalism Network. “That is, of course, the greatest nonsense. That means that there are things in the contracts that you don’t want to have to come out. And it is in the national interest, so all transparency is served by that — especially when you know that there is already so much corruption in our country.”
In Suriname, oil bids are conducted largely in secret; oil contracts and other documentation are kept from the public despite more than six years of government promises to publish them; and freedom-of-information legislation has been delayed for more than a decade.
The national oil company, Staatsolie, told CIJN that it is working to improve transparency and that its bidding processes and contracts are already up to international standards. Similar promises have also come from Suriname President Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi, a former police commissioner who took office in 2020 pledging to reform the corruption that has long plagued the country.
“If you want to get maximum benefit from oil and gas exploration, there must be a few preconditions in place, such as responsible, transparent and fair governance,” Santokhi said in March 2022. “Through good policy, the right development of these sectors can make all Surinamese and the country rich.”
But transparency advocates fear the emerging offshore oil sector could fall into a trap that has plagued other extractive industries in the country.
Read the full story HERE:
https://www.cijn.org/oil-secrets-of-suriname-public-largely-in-the-dark-as-offshore-dreams-deferred/
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Procurement, Special Projects and Citizenship By Investment
By Jermine Abel
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Contractors undertaking road works along Old Road Bay, St. Kitts |
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St. Kitts and Nevis is one of the smallest states within the Western Hemisphere as well as within the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. The Federation boasts a strong economy but even as it claims success in this aspect, there are serious concerns that its laws do not go far enough to minimize or stamp out corruption and corrupt practices.
Attempts are now being made to remedy that situation through legislative amendments but progress is slow towards completion, especially the Tender and Procurement Legislation, which continues to be a major suggested area of corruption.
For many years, there have been murmurs over the way successive governments have been operating the Tender and Procurement Processes, and whether they have been honouring the parameters of the laws of the land.
With a population of more than 53,000, St. Kitts and Nevis has become one of the fastest growing islands in the Eastern Caribbean in terms of both population and its economy, welcoming nationals from across the Caribbean Community and internationally – as part of the ever popular Citizenship By Investment Programme (CBI/CIP). It is also one of the top cruise destination for visitors, attracting more that one million passengers in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This meant that changes had to be made to the infrastructure of the islands in order to adequately accommodate the steadily growing influx, and also to modernize the country in order to attract investors and others willing to make St. Kitts and Nevis home – especially through the CBI Programme.
Read the full story HERE:
https://www.cijn.org/procurement-special-projects-and-citizenship-by-investment/
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Thousands Lost to Debit/Credit Card Fraud in Grenada
By Linda Straker
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The wave of anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism laws is upon us!" warns a notice on an ATM machine in St George's Grenada |
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Businesswoman Dawseanne Williams did not foresee credit card fraud in her future when she made a simple and routine deposit into her local bank using one of its Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) in September 2022.
In her rush to get home, Ms. Williams forgot to remove her card from the machine.
Her folly triggered an excruciating episode that played out in a magistrate court where a young female suspect incurred a criminal record for the crime and the stolen returned to the owner.
“As I was driving home, I began getting automatic bank alerts informing me about the amount of money deducted from my account for transactions, but I was driving home, I knew I was not conducting any transaction, so I stopped the car and checked my purse and to my astonishment, the card was not in my purse,” Ms. Williams recalled.
“I had left it at the machine or loss it, it was a Friday night, so my option was to notify the bank but by the time I did I had lost more than EC$2000, and my hard earn cash was disappearing before my eyes and it appears that my options were limited to stop the transaction,” she continued.
The bank with whom Ms. Williams has her account states on its website, under loss and stolen card, that it is the responsibility of the holder to safeguard the debit card.
However, if the debit card is lost or stolen the holder should notify the bank by phone or in writing, so that its system can block new transactions from being authorized against the account.
The notice further warns, “Remember that transactions performed before you notify us of any issues or unauthorized usage will remain your responsibility.”
Read the full story HERE:
https://www.cijn.org/thousands-lost-to-debit-credit-card-fraud-in-grenada/
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