On World Press Freedom Day we can commend Jamaican governments for a free press

IN 2019, the Jamaican Government proposed to extend the denial of access to Cabinet documents from 20 years to 70 years. A year later, the Government left the media off a list of entities allowed to operate freely during the COVID-19 no-movement days.

Those proposals were quickly shelved after the media, with strong public support, expressed outrage on grounds that they would have seriously compromised the enjoyment of freedom of expression and press freedom.

Many journalists in other parts of the world would love if that were all they had to face. Some are losing their lives merely for covering the activities of corrupt officials and criminal organisations.

Today, on World Press Freedom Day, Jamaican journalists know that things could have been way worse if we had governments such as in some countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia especially, where a free press does not exist.

Inasmuch as the Jamaican media, acting as a fierce watchdog for the people, beat up on the various governments, it is only fair that the different political administrations be commended for the free press and freedom of expression that we enjoy as a country.

We invite all Jamaicans to spare a thought for the journalists who are covering the Russia-ukraine war under the most dangerous conditions in their effort to keep the world informed of the atrocities happening in that theatre of conflict.

Nor should we forget those in Russia who are risking dire punishment, including imprisonment, for trying to present the facts, against the determination of the Vladimir Putin Government to spread disinformation and muzzle the independent media, such as there are.

While we remain extremely worried about the high murder rate in Jamaica, it is noteworthy that no journalists have been subject to violence related to their work, and there is no overt harassment of journalists or pressure on media houses that will condition the content they produce.

Media are required to work within the confines of defamation legislation that levies financial damages on offending broadcasters, publishers and journalists but we have no problems with efforts to protect the hard-won reputation of Jamaican citizens.

It is good to be able to say that the importance of freedom of the press is generally recognised by the Jamaican authorities and that there is an absence of systemic or institutional impediments on the operations of the media or on the practice of freedom of expression.

All the international organisations which rank countries for freedom of the press have Jamaica in the high positive numbers and always in the top 10 of free media — a thing of pride for all Jamaicans.

The Jamaican media can boast of access to information legislation that allows requests for information to be considered. Of course, we are watching to see if the Government will keep its promise to reduce the length of time it takes between a request for information and the granting of access.

We remain adamant that the Data Protection Act — which can be a game-changer in the area of security — must have every possible guarantee of freedom of the press and not roll back any of the freedoms which the media have cherished for so long.

Let’s never forget that a free press is the oxygen of democracy.

Except for the views expressed in the column above, the articles published on this page do not necessarily represent the views of the Jamaica Observer.