Edmond Campbell, Senior News Coordinator

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller addresses the launch of the Society for Collaborative Lifting and Advancing of Inner-City Males at the Hilton New Kingston hotel in St. Andrew yesterday. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller yesterday urged journalists to stop giving publicity to dons and criminals who gloat about their ability to influence what appears in the media.

"Stop glamorising the big criminals and the dons," she stressed, noting that she has been informed that the latest colloquial expression in the criminal underworld is that a targeted victim of crime will be "paged".

Murdered and mentioned

"Paging means you will appear in the news or in the newspaper," Mrs. Simpson Miller explained. "You'll get mentioned because you are murdered."

Speaking yesterday at the launch of the Society for the Collaborative Lifting and Advancing of Inner-city Males (S-CLAIM), organised by the Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA) at the Hilton Hotel in New Kingston, the Prime Minister urged the media to place more emphasis on the work of groups such as ADRA.

"I will still buy the papers, I will still watch the news but I want to see more of the young men who are being assisted and more of the work of the churches highlighted," she added.

Bemoaning the large number of young men who were at risk, she said something had to be done to rescue these youngsters.

The Prime Minister criticised persons in the society who "found a problem for every solution", adding that they should strive to do the opposite.

S-CLAIM is targeting 42 young men who will receive assistance at the high school and tertiary level. These youngsters, who attend six high schools in inner-city communities, will also benefit from free medical check-ups at the Andrews Memorial Hospital.