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JOURNALISTS covering the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) mass meeting in Port Antonio on Monday night were heckled by party supporters after Prime Minister Andrew Holness accused the media of bias.
The pronouncement by Holness that the media cannot be trusted to report the positive messages delivered from the campaign platforms, among them the announcement that two new high schools are to be established in the parish, riled up supporters who began threatening media personnel who were present and accused them of being biased.
"The media that is here is not going to carry that; they only want to hear some suss, but I don't have any to give them," Holness told the large crowd of Labourites.
According to the prime minister, "development for the people don't sell paper or make newscast."
This was all some supporters needed to further chide the media personnel.
"Yu nah write down what de big man say, mek sure you write weh him say," one angry man shouted to this reporter.
"You better meck sure we see it in the Observer tomorrow," a group of women threatened.
As Holness pressed home his point, sections of the crowd became more restless, fuelling concerns among several of the media workers that if allowed to continue the verbal abuse would escalate to physical attacks.
"Is so dem media people wicked and lie," one supporter yelled, while glaring angrily at a media worker.
The videographers and photographers were also heckled by some supporters who became verbally abusive at one point and accused the men of blocking their view of the platform.
A videographer from one television station which was singled out by the prime minister at another mass rally for what he said was an inaccurate report, said some supporters sought to intimidate him and accused him of not filming what the prime minister was saying.
With no designated spaces allotted to the working media at any of these mass rallies, media workers must jostle with the throng of supporters to get a vantage point from which to see and hear.
In his address, Holness told the crowd that after they have finished running behind the music truck and gathering for mass rallies they will want to know how their lives will be better.
"The media that is here is not going to carry that," he said. "You can't depend on them, so I am talking to the people of Jamaica directly, unfiltered."
Holness reiterated that he speaks directly to the people of the country and does not need another medium to give opinions, interpretation and translation.
Also addressing the rally, Daryl Vaz, the minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for telecommunications and public sector efficiency, accused the electronic media of airing other political advertisements while holding back those of the JLP.
"None of our paid ads are on television because dem say the lawyers not happy, but the others are on," he told the supporters.
According to Vaz, "now that I don't have the information portfolio me don't put my mouth ah ground and talk".
He added further that comments made by senior members of the PNP are tantamount to public mischief, even as he accused the media of disseminating this false information.
These public comments, he insisted, are due to desperation.
"Now that Andrew call it we have to be on alert because dem going to try everything and anything," he said.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1fqQZWwJZ
The pronouncement by Holness that the media cannot be trusted to report the positive messages delivered from the campaign platforms, among them the announcement that two new high schools are to be established in the parish, riled up supporters who began threatening media personnel who were present and accused them of being biased.
"The media that is here is not going to carry that; they only want to hear some suss, but I don't have any to give them," Holness told the large crowd of Labourites.
According to the prime minister, "development for the people don't sell paper or make newscast."
This was all some supporters needed to further chide the media personnel.
"Yu nah write down what de big man say, mek sure you write weh him say," one angry man shouted to this reporter.
"You better meck sure we see it in the Observer tomorrow," a group of women threatened.
As Holness pressed home his point, sections of the crowd became more restless, fuelling concerns among several of the media workers that if allowed to continue the verbal abuse would escalate to physical attacks.
"Is so dem media people wicked and lie," one supporter yelled, while glaring angrily at a media worker.
The videographers and photographers were also heckled by some supporters who became verbally abusive at one point and accused the men of blocking their view of the platform.
A videographer from one television station which was singled out by the prime minister at another mass rally for what he said was an inaccurate report, said some supporters sought to intimidate him and accused him of not filming what the prime minister was saying.
With no designated spaces allotted to the working media at any of these mass rallies, media workers must jostle with the throng of supporters to get a vantage point from which to see and hear.
In his address, Holness told the crowd that after they have finished running behind the music truck and gathering for mass rallies they will want to know how their lives will be better.
"The media that is here is not going to carry that," he said. "You can't depend on them, so I am talking to the people of Jamaica directly, unfiltered."
Holness reiterated that he speaks directly to the people of the country and does not need another medium to give opinions, interpretation and translation.
Also addressing the rally, Daryl Vaz, the minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for telecommunications and public sector efficiency, accused the electronic media of airing other political advertisements while holding back those of the JLP.
"None of our paid ads are on television because dem say the lawyers not happy, but the others are on," he told the supporters.
According to Vaz, "now that I don't have the information portfolio me don't put my mouth ah ground and talk".
He added further that comments made by senior members of the PNP are tantamount to public mischief, even as he accused the media of disseminating this false information.
These public comments, he insisted, are due to desperation.
"Now that Andrew call it we have to be on alert because dem going to try everything and anything," he said.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1fqQZWwJZ
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