BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MANY people in St. Kitts and Nevis, including some members of the primary law enforcement agency, do not comprehend the role of the media and perceive journalists as a group of inquisitive individuals pursuing them and even invading their privacy to get information on an event or issue that they may deem personal.
While the Mission Statement of the Federation’s Police Force is “to uphold the law fairly and firmly, without fear or favour, to prevent crime, to pursue and bring to justice those who break the law, to keep the peace, to protect, help and reassure residents and visitors and to be seen to do all this with integrity and impartiality”; the role of the media, which is termed the Fourth Estate, is “to inform, educate, teach and entertain”.
By extension, the media provide readership and listeners with analyses through editorials and commentaries.
These two institutions have separate, but on most occasions similar, tasks to perform in service to the nation. For example, members of both organisations conduct investigations. However, while investigation of crimes done by the police is for the arrest and successful prosecution of the perpetrators, media practitioners do it to sensitise the public.
This therefore means that the media and the police should not be adversaries. But to some individuals this may be a fallacy, because in recent times some media practitioners, especially this writer, were accused of engaging in ‘Yellow Journalism’, which is a pejorative reference to journalism that features scandal-mongering, sensationalism, jingoism or other unethical or unprofessional practices.
Among the accusers are the recently-appointed Commissioner of Police who had made some of his thoughts public (and others by means of text messages), and a number of others including some who pen their views on the SKNList and are afraid to make known their identities.
Journalism is a discipline of gathering, writing and reporting of events at the local, national, regional and international levels in a timely manner. And a good journalist is not influenced by financial offerings or is persuaded by political pressures to distort facts and truth, but one who promulgates the facts and truth of an event or issue to the reading and listening public, which is unlike the practice of most public relations officers.
This article is aimed at analysing some statements the Commissioner of Police made against media practitioners and to highlight the factors that force operatives to publish/broadcast stories without the police’s input.
When people deny information to the media, practitioners will speculate and this can lead to undesirable situations. This statement holds true and evidence lies in the inefficient and ineffective management of the Force’s Public Relations Office.
The Commissioner recently said that his Public Relations Officer (PRO) and other senior members of the Police Force are willing to provide any information requested as long as it does not compromise ongoing investigations.
This has been the normal practice over a number of years, but quite recently there seems to have been the implementation of a gag order. And getting in touch with the PRO is similar to that of searching in the night with a candle for a needle in a haystack.
Undersatndably however, the PRO had explained that due to his geographic location, signals are poor and he suggested that he should be contacted for information either by text messages or emails, which was not done. But it must be understood that there is an urgency in information gathering because news is timely. Therefore, it is suggested that this problem be speedily rectified to facilitate the timely dissemination of information.
On Tuesday (Jan. 10), SKNVibes travelled to Sandy Point to investigate a wounding incident at the Charles E Mills Secondary School and had met a senior officer, who claimed that he could not provide any information and that this media house should contact the PRO.
Consequently, this media house spoke with a number of persons who were outside of the school’s compound and they provided some information on the incident. However, numerous attempts were made to contact the PRO to have the police’s version but they were all unsuccessful.
Therefore, a visit was made to Force Headquarters where SKNVibes spoke with Assistant Commissioner Ian Queeley, who indicated that he was not in possession of the details and that the PRO should be contacted.
It was explained to ACP Queeley that earlier attempts were made but to no avail. He then tried to contact the PRO but had similar response and left a message on his voice mail.
Is this efficiency? And was it right for the Commissioner to say that masked men were not involved in the altercation as published by this media house, but students?
Onlookers said they were masked and Winn FM visited the school on Wednesday and filed a report which stated that the perpetrators had their faces covered. Yet the Commissioner refuted the report that they were masked men.
Masked means concealed or hidden, and if the perpetrators were masked, how can one say it was a student? Therefore, this media house used the term “masked men” and did not speculate.
He also said, “It is indeed very troubling to see media outlets publishing stories without first seeking clarification or verification.”
News is timely and does not always have shelf life. Therefore, must media practitioners wait for four and six hours or even days to get information from members of the force who do not have details or cannot be contacted?
It is only after an article is published that media houses would receive a press release, and of late it is not disseminated by the Force Public Relations Office but from the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary and/or Disseminateit.
One recent example can be given to substantiate this fact and it concerns the death of 60-year-old Matthew Murphy who was allegedly killed by the General Manager and owner of Rawlins Plantation Inn, Kevin Horstwood.
The Commissioner said that Murphy’s body was discovered “in a rural field on the western end of the island of St. Kitts” on Friday, December 30, 2011.
He noted that police got the report and arrived at the scene at approximately 11:45 a.m. SKNVibes heard about the incident shortly after noon but failed in its attempts to contact the Police PRO.
However, after 3:00 p.m., contact was made with Assistant Commissioner Ian Queeley who holds the responsibility for Crime. He confirmed that the incident did take place but he could not provide details or any statement on the matter.
This media house also attempted to reach the Commissioner for a comment but was informed by text messages…”Sorry, I am busy. Call back later.”
SKNVibes therefore published the incident with the information that it gathered from its own investigation, which stated that the deceased was an American businessman. Later that afternoon, a press release from the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary confirmed the murder, but withheld the man’s identity and nationality.
Again, why did it take more than six hours for the police to disseminate the information to the media? All seasoned journalists are aware of the fact that a murder victim’s name should not be published until his/her next of kin was informed and that certain information has to be withheld because it would compromise investigations.
So, if this was the excuse for the late release, then it should not be accepted. What the media houses needed were the basic facts: “Was someone killed? Where was he/she killed? When did it happen? Who did it? And were any arrests made?
It was subsequently confirmed that Murphy was indeed an American citizen and was employed as a handyman at the hotel, while the accused is a native of the United Kingdom.
And a very important point to note is that whenever a local is charged with the capital offence, this media house would obtain a picture of the accused, either from its files or from the police. But since Horstwood was charged with the offence, SKNVibes’ constant requests for his mug shot have gone unheeded by the police.
In a CUOPM press release dated January 11, 2012 and headlined “Police Commissioner appeals to local media houses to be more responsible in reporting crime”, it quoted Commissioner Celvin Walwyn as saying, “Just this week, there were three stories on one internet media outlet that publishes some stories without verifying the information.”
Definitely, he was referring to this media house and two of the articles were: “Man undergoes surgeries from alleged Delta Squad’s beatings” and “Nevisian recording artiste accuses Woman Police Constable of assault”.
The first one was on the heels of an allegation made by a Newtown resident that members of the Delta Squad had beaten him and placed a gun in his mouth. This particular story was discussed with the Commissioner before its publication and he categorically stated that it was under investigation.
The second Delta Squad’s article which relates to the man who underwent two surgeries was investigated by this writer, who spoke with ACP Queeley on the allegations and was told that the man was charged with possession of cannabis, obstruction under the Drug Act, battery on police and wounding. It was also learnt that the man’s two sons who are members of the Defence Force had filed a complaint with Commissioner Walwyn on the matter and were told that an investigation has since been launched.
Is that not a justifiable means of substantiating information? Is it that the Commissioner of Police is only pleased and agrees with the media when articles are written on the amount of drug busts and firearms and ammunition recovered by the Delta Squad?
ACP Queeley was also contacted for a comment on the alleged assault of the recording artiste. He however referred this writer to Sergeant Jacobs, the Officer-in-Charge of Complaints, who confirmed that a complaint was levelled against the Woman Police Officer and indicated that the matter is under investigation.
Is this too not a justifiable means of substantiating information? The media are the ‘people’s watchdog’ and any journalist who refuses to listen, investigate and publish a member of society’s genuine concerns ought not to be in this profession.
It must be remembered that no man is perfect and we are all prone to mistakes. Like the majority of civilians, police officers do tell lies and some of them believe that they are above the law. It must also be remembered that they are also products of the same society from which doctors, politicians, teachers and other professionals as well as criminals emerge.
As earlier mentioned, the police and the media should not be adversaries. We need to work together in a harmonious manner in order to rid society of its evil elements. But in order to achieve this and to avoid the publication of what the Commissioner called “clarification or verification”, the force must clean up its act.
Since the arrival of Commissioner Walwyn, there have been significant changes in the force’s modus operandi in crime fighting which resulted in the reduction of certain crimes, especially homicides. However, he must take time out and look in the mirror, because the Force’s Public Relations Office seems obsolete.
Conclusively, if some members of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force cannot take criticisms and scrutiny, then they should not take taxpayers money. They cannot want to eat from the public’s pot and expect taxpayers to cast a blind eye to their performance.
A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.
