Targeting of journalists, civil society groups a threat to democracy - UWI lecturer

The leadership of Jamaica’s two main political parties are being urged to “rein in their supporters” from unfairly targeting institutions of accountability such as media and civil society groups.

Damion Gordon, lecturer in the Department of Government at The University of the West Indies, Mona, told The Gleaner that such actions by supporters of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP) are a danger to Jamaica’s democracy.

“We live in an era where the truth is becoming unpopular while misinformation and lies are becoming more popular and people are actually being attacked for speaking truthfully, for speaking objectively. That is the context in which we are operating currently,” Gordon said.

He stressed that, when the roles of these institutions are threatened and undermined, it creates an environment where the government can become unrestricted in its power, which then facilitates many defects such as corruption, government overreach, and other forms of conduct that do not serve the interest of the public.

On Monday, a video, with names and faces, emerged accusing six senior Gleaner journalists of being linked to, and used by, the opposition PNP to sabotage the Government.

The Gleaner, through RJRGLEANER Communications Group CEO Anthony Smith, has rejected the allegations, saying the claims put members of the team “at risk of being targeted in varied ways”.

The attacks come as rhetoric between the two main parties heats up ahead of national elections constitutionally due by September next year.

The Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) has condemned this attack on press freedom, and pointed also to attempts by PNP supporters to link the Jamaica Observer’s deputy managing director to influencing the media entity’s editorial policy.

The PAJ highlighted JLP Member of Parliament Everald Warmington’s recent comments at a political rally, accusing the RJRGLEANER Communications Group of having an agenda against Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Further, the association cited PNP President Mark Golding’s criticism at the party’s annual conference, where he labelled some media houses as “JLP-aligned”.

During Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, Information Minister Senator Dana Morris Dixon, when quizzed about the Government’s silence on the matter, denounced the attacks. She stressed that the Holness administration “is very much committed to press freedom” and that “everything we have done has demonstrated that”.

Last night, JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang said the party was not responsible for video referencing the six Gleaner journalists, and that the JLP “would not condone such activity”.

Chang was responding to a letter from Gleaner Editor-in-Chief Moya Thomas, who raised concerns about the safety of the journalists and urged the party to use the force of its executive to publicly and unequivocally distance itself from the video.

The JLP general secretary said the party’s executive would remind its membership to “temper their responses to perceived attacks on the leadership of the party”.

He added: “We will take steps to safeguard the professional safety of any rank of journalist to cover events nationally and/or seek information to write reports related to any political party.”

Yesterday, Gordon also noted that other agencies of accountability and civil society groups have also been accused of having an anti-government agenda.

In June, while speaking in the Houses of Parliament, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck declared that the island’s single anti-corruption body has no “integrity” and that government lawmakers had no confidence in the reports published by the corruption watchdog.

In 2021, there were concerns about the treatment meted out to Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis by government representatives on the Public Accounts Committee.

Monroe Ellis, widely respected for her Auditor General’s reports, several of which have unearthed scandalous and corrupt activities across state bodies, was subjected to tense exchanges in committee meetings which culminated in government representatives demanding that she reveal the name of a Gleaner journalist who spoke with the auditor general on a matter that was being deliberated in Parliament.

Stating that “civil society and independent institutions help to bridge the gap between government and citizens by providing voice, representation and advocacy for many Jamaicans”, Gordon emphasised that the undermining of these groups is unacceptable.

“We rely on civil society, we rely on the media, we rely on these independent institutions to really oversee the public interest, to raise concerns and to really make demands upon the State so that state officials, government officials, public servants commit themselves to the highest standard of morality and accountability,” he said.

Gordon shared his distress about the possible impact of these attacks against the media on Jamaica’s press freedom ranking. The country ranks 24th out of 180 nations in the 2024 release of the World Press Freedom Index, with a score of 77.3. It is the number one ranked country in the Caribbean.

“We don’t know if it will cross the line at some point in time where it moves from being verbal attacks to attacks on lives or attacks on property,” he stated.

It is also imperative, Gordon asserted, that the Cybersecurity Act be enforced to “apply the necessary punitive measures so this can ... send a strong signal to say that this will not be tolerated and we are not going to go down that road, and therefore it requires leadership at the highest level.”

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com