'Reprehensible act!'
Published:Thursday | March 17, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Int'l journalist body to review complaint against Warmington
Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter
THE INTIMIDATORY conduct of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) politician Everald Warmington towards members of the local media is to be reviewed by head of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
Gregorio Salazar, IFJ representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, has described behaviour such as that displayed by Warmington as "reprehensible".
In response to correspondence from the Press Association of Jamaica and the Media Association Jamaica Limited, Salazar said their submission for intervention in the stand-off between the local media and the Government over Warmington's conduct would be reviewed at the highest level of the organisation.
"Our view is that these reprehensible actions of political representatives of their country deserve the delivery of the highest court of the IFJ, possibly of president of the organisation, Jim Boumelha, whom we are sending a copy of (the) submission," Salazar reported.
In their letter to the IFJ, the local media associations advised the international media community that "acts of blatant intimidation by the Jamaican politician have impacted the ability of the Jamaican media to pursue stories on the integrity of the former government member who was in breach of the Jamaican Constitution."
Expected to apologise
Meanwhile, minister with responsibility for information, Daryl Vaz, arguing that "wrong cannot be right", signalled that he would encourage the JLP's South West St Catherine candidate in the upcoming by-election, Warmington, to apologise for his offensive remarks during a recent live television interview.
"I would expect that he would apologise," Vaz responded to questions yesterday from journalists during a post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
"Wrong can't be right and, therefore, there must be an investigation into what has taken place and the party hierarchy will have to take the decisions as to what the outcome of that is. But, due process must be followed," he said.
On Tuesday, local media associations sought support from their international counterparts in condemnation of Warmington's "intimidatory" posture against journalists.
Quizzed on the latest development, Vaz said: "I am not concerned; the press has a job to do."
However, Vaz urged the media to pursue internal matters with the same "forcefulness" as they treat with the Warmington issue.
"While the press is on this crusade and campaign, the whole operation of the press in Jamaica has a lot of work to do in terms of holding journalists responsible for their own actions as well," he stressed.
Pressure has been mounting on Prime Minister Bruce Golding to take action against Warmington for his offensive remarks to and in relation to CVM news anchor Kerlyn Brown.
Warmington told Brown to "go to hell" on March 8 when he was asked to respond to a question about his reasons for remaining a member of the House of Representatives since 2007, despite knowing his pledge of allegiance to a foreign country had made him an unfit candidate. According to reports, he later made additional demeaning remarks about Brown when confronted by CVM Director of News Garfield Burford.