Category: Media

Media (in)discretion

August 19, 2010 by warriorPoet

 So I am looking at Newspapers today and seeing pictures of Neeshad Ali's wife in her own grief. The pictures bring to me feelings of pity for her loss and disgust at the photographer and newspaper that published it...

Inside the newspaper is a photo, apparently taken in happier times,posted on facebook, of the couple. The entire article highlights the deceased's facebook comments and those of his brother. FACEBOOK?

Now, I believe in freedom of the press and investigative journalism but this is NOT news, this merely is intruding on a private moment of grief. Like so many perpetrated in past "to sell the story"...

I am reminded of the news pieces that Kalyzan Beharry (RIP) death had generated, some of which had alluded to her results and had named a band she listened too. How do those rumours relate? {Read more}

What's Missing In This Article?

August 14, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

When I read 'Blow The Whistle'  in the Trinidad Express, I couldn't help but notice that something was missing. Here's the hint: 

...Ramlogan is now issuing a call for all whistle-blowers who want to help in the blanket audit...

Give up? OK, I'll help. It's an article that goes in depth about what a group is investigating that notes that they are looking for whistle-blowers...

And it doesn't tell people how to blow their whistles, which makes it as effective as getting an anonymous note that 'someone likes you'.

600 Cases of Dengue = Outbreak?

July 24, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

Just something that's bugging me after seeing the Trinidad and Tobago tabloid newspaper   'written media' headlines at the express checkout line in Hi-Lo:

600 cases in an estimated population of 1.2 million is 0.05% of the population. If we go with another estimate of Trinidad and Tobago's population, 1.5 million, we come up with 0.04% of the population.

Oh. And 3 people? 0.00025% and 0.0002% of the population dead, respectively.

*AHEM*. If we abuse the term 'outbreak' on a national level like that, I wonder how they would classify HIV infection? A really big outbreak? Oh, and the common cold becomes the plague.

That said, it is possible that there is are localized outbreaks in different parts of the country - something good data reporting and collection could and should identify so that one can isolate the problem areas and deal with the mosquito problems in a sensible manner - through triage.

But scaring the public? Socially irresponsible. The media should be doing a better job at informing the public. Perhaps that's a job that the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) could get started on: sensible reporting.

'Property Tax' or 'Property Tax Reform'? Get It Right.

June 2, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

I wish that someone in authority would specify whether the property tax itself will be rescinded or whether it is simply the reforms passed last year. The PP Manifesto indicates that this is the Property Tax itself by stating: "We will rescind the property tax." That's item 3 in the list of promises.

And the definition of 'rescind' is fairly clear.

So - no more property tax? That's what this Guardian article's title communicates as well. Even the article seem to confuse the issue.

Will someone simply state what they mean?

Look at the title of the article, for example. This NEEDS to be clarified for the masses, Trinidad Guardian, and I'm somewhat disappointed that I have to say so. If its only the reform, the title is misleading. It seems obvious that this should only be the Property Tax reform instead of the Property Tax itself, but somehow the media and politicians can't make the distinction... or choose not to.

It isn't as if we haven't been paying attention to the Property Tax.

TrinidadExpress.com Criticism

March 28, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

I've held my thoughts on the new Trinidad Express website close to my chest, though people have sounded off on Facebook and other social media sites about their... perspective on how the site looks. I kept my thoughts close to my chest to assure that none of my friends were involved.

The site simply isn't pretty. I've heard one person say that they have stopped using the site because of the fact that it... leaves much to be desired. So here are my criticisms of the site, if only to keep people from screwing up perfectly good websites. {Read more}

More On Carnival, CNMG, Copyright and Gayelle

February 17, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

When Edmund Gall first wrote about the de facto monopolization of Carnival broadcast rights in Trinidad and Tobago (read it!), he mentioned friend Mark Lyndersay's point that it was more about control than optimization. When I wrote about the issue last night, I took the same tack.

Is it the right tack? Some may not think so. Lets consider a parallel. Let us consider broadcast rights in sports.

In sports, media companies are granted rights to broadcast and rebroadcast a sporting event - be it the Olympics, the Super Bowl, cricket, tennis, etc. A key difference between carnival and sport is that sports broadcasts are typically of people getting paid to move a ball from one place to another. This is not to diminish their ability with balls - it is in fact because they are so good with moving balls around that they get paid. Carnival, on the other hand, has people who have paid to play mas (for foreigners, that means dancing and prancing in costumes some deem artistic).

Thus, the very basis of the parallel is skewed: Sports broadcasts are of people who are typically paid to play with balls. Carnival broadcasts are typically of people who paid to play themselves. The balls joke was too easy. {Read more}

Carnival, CNMG, Copyright and Gayelle

February 17, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

I would just like to point out that I'm supporting Gayelle here in Trinidad, that someone suing for coverage of what is labeled a cultural event is reprehensible.

I'd like to see everyone who was pictured or videoed under CNMG's copyright say that they signed a document stating that CNMG could exclusively display their images and videos for profit. Let me get this straight: people pay to play in bands, then the state owned enterprise CNMG takes the images of the people who spent money and profits from them?

Copyright. The government has taken a state owned corporation and made it in charge of commercial interests of Carnival - that's basically excising private enterprise and putting it in the hands of government. So the content that is owned by the State Owned Enterprise would belong to the government of Trinidad and Tobago which is supposed to be holding it in trust of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. What a brilliant way for the government to make money and assure more control of media in Trinidad and Tobago. A stupid tax with the capacity for censorship through a state run enterprise.

Hitler would be so proud! Not only getting the propaganda machine up but having the people subsidize it with their own spending on costumes, etc. {Read more}

Blackberry and Facebook Save Life?

January 25, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

Two newspaper articles cover the same thing: 

• Blackberry, Facebook Save Child's Life
• Sleeping child rescued from stolen vehicle

While it is unclear why a mother would leave a child in a running vehicle for any length of time, the word did apparently get out through a Blackberry. How Facebook was specifically involved remains unclear.

The discrepancy in the reporting between the Trinidad Express and Trinidad Guardian is worth exploring.

Why don't T&T media professionals check facts?

November 26, 2009 by Edmund Gall

Since leaving T&T about seven years ago, I've been relying mostly on T&T daily newspapers’ websites to keep abreast of local news.  Before leaving, I never used their websites; I preferred poring over the physical newspapers instead.  My transfer from the physical to the online versions of the news had an interesting side-effect: spotting errors is easier.

I'm not talking just about typos, or more correctly typographical errors, which include incorrect use of grammar and poor spelling.  These have been around for some time in the T&T media, I guess. Otherwise the late Undine Giuseppi wouldn't have been able to sustain her long-running English language column.  I've complained to the editors of both these dailies about this several times over the past few years, to little or no avail.  While egregious and frequent, typos can cause relatively little harm to the average reader.

No, I'm referring to the more dangerous kind: the factual errors.  These cover a range of forms.  I've observed simple ones, such as when reporters get the names of persons, organisations or events wrong.  For example, go search the websites for articles on the T&T men's cricket team's performance at the Airtel Twenty20 Champions League 2009 tournament. Several reporters kept calling it the IPL Champions League, when it was clearly not.  The IPL, or Indian Premier League, is a domestic cricket league in India and just one of the seven different leagues or countries worldwide represented at this Champions League tournament. {Read more}

Media, Social Media and Trinidad and Tobago: A New Twist

November 17, 2009 by Taran Rampersad

Edmund Gall has been asking some good questions and making good observations regarding media and social media in Trinidad and Tobago - 'Can The Dinosaurs of T&T Media Accept Change?' and 'Can The Media Do No Wrong?'   are worth reading. I agree with his observations for the most part because his observations are based on facts. And while I didn't have comment for his articles, I do have some things I want to add into the mix.

With a torrent of threads within Social Media itself regarding the reporter who was recently banned from Trinidad and Tobago Parliament, it seems as good a time as any to point out a few things.

Oddly, when people are discussing the ban of the reporter, they forget that the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago recently demanded an apology of Minister Kennedy Swaratsingh - and why. That situation, barely covered here, became an issue because members of Parliament were avoiding the media.

They also seem to forget that there was a big uproar by the media about the potential licensing of journalists within CARICOM. CARICOM's response was that it was not discussing the licensing of journalists. I expect that, as a member of the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago, people were dismayed at my lack of stance on the topic while it was a topic.

Now I'll mix these together.
{Read more}