Media group irate over raid at CCN TV building

PORT-OF-SPAIN (CMC):

The Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) has condemned, "in the strongest possible terms", the police raid on the newsroom of a leading television station in search of evidence linked to an ongoing criminal investigation.

Members of the Port-of-Spain Criminal Investigation Department swooped down on the Caribbean Communications Network TV6 building searching for a tape that was used as part of the highly rated television programme, Crime Watch, which the station suspended in November.

Employees gathered outside the Independence Square building while the police conducted their search. The law-enforcement authorities reportedly left with only a DVD.

In a lengthy statement, MATT said the action by the police can be construed as an attempt "to intimidate and harass a media house that, from all reports, had been cooperating fully with their investigation.

"We are satisfied that, in this instance, the tape of the Crime Watch programme which aired on TV6 would have been handed over to the police if they had simply asked for it.

"The association believes that sending over two dozen officers to search the station and "lock down" the media house was overkill. The association is also concerned that members of the judiciary should see fit to authorise search warrants for media premises with no apparent regard for the consequent potential infringement on the freedom of the press, which is guaranteed under the Constitution."

MATT said such incursions into media houses may be used as a pretext for "unearthing information about sources or other material that journalists are likely to have in their possession.

"Police searches of media premises, therefore, have the potential to erode public trust in the media, undermine the protection of sources and vaporise the confidentiality which governs their work."