Colin Steer, Associate Editor - Opinion One day in the run-up to the 1980 elections, there was a clash between PNP and JLP supporters in Gordon Town Square resulting in the shooting death of Roy McGann, the PNP's candidate for East Rural St. Andrew. The Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC), whose news and current affairs departments were then seen by many critics to be operating as an arm of the People's National Party with several moles for Trevor Munroe's communist Workers Party of Jamaica, referred to the killing in subsequentnewscasts as an assassination.
Wilmot Perkins, writing a column in The Gleaner, took the statements of spokespersons from both PNP and JLP and their testimonies and reconstructed the incident according to the geography of the Gordon Town Square. He concluded that given all that was said as to the sequence of events, timing, and place where McGann was killed, it was doubtful that he was shot by the JLP group. He ended his article by asking, "Who was the person in the alcove?" Later that day, then Prime Minister, Michael Manley, told a jam-packed Half-Way Tree Square that the police had since informed him that the bullet that killed McGann came from the gun of his own bodyguard. Thereafter, the JBC stopped referring to the killing as an "assassination". The post 1980 elections JBC under the JLP was hardly any better in its reporting.
Not robots
Accusations of media bias are as old as the hills - for good reason. Sometimes they are valid. Working journalists and their managers are not mindless robots. They have views like anybody else and so even where there is a stated commitment to professionalism, people's perspective will affect how they interpret things and what they choose to highlight.
But generally when politicians complain about media bias, they are not really concerned about fairness, accuracy, or bias per se. Rather, it is that the particular medium at a particular time is not doing their bidding. When the boot is on the other foot, they have no complaints.
So there are several questions to be asked when accusations of bias arise: who is making the charge; why are they making the charge at this time; and is it justified in the specific case?
Of course, some people see shadows where there is no sun, so even with the Prime Minister's penchant for talking nonsense, in her recent criticisms of the media, the partisans will agree with her unquestioningly. It is not without significance that the reports of the Observer's alleged stifling of poll results favouringthe PNP should have been aired by Dr. Trevor Munroe on the 'Breakfast Club'. He is a candidate for the People's National Party and, therefore, is keen on defending that interest. Were the poll results otherwise - assuming the charge to be correct for the sake of argument - do you think he would be concerned?
When Ronald Thwaites reviews the newspapers in the mornings and is dismissive of some reports, and praises others, he does so not as a 'pure objective' analyst, but also as someone with a particular perspective and as a candidate for the People's National Party seeking elected office.
How many people recall that the same Butch Stewart now being pilloried as being anti-PNP was only few years ago being hailed as Jamaica's super-patriot who could do no wrong? At that time, his interests and the ruling party's were seen as one and the same. How things have changed!
JLP candidates are more likely to call Perkins to air their criticisms because of a perception that on many issues, they share perspectives. The PNP candidates generally boycott him. Media publishing news articles and commentary can expect the partisan hordes to be out in their numbers, especially at election time. It is the name of the game. Professionals should operate from the courage of their convictions and with a commitment to being ethical. Let the chips fall where they may.
