BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - A press release coming from the Press Secretary of the Prime Minister has been found to be disturbing in content and even more disturbing in the long term fallout that could come from this official announcement.
The release entitled – “Forty one-bedroom cottages, three holes completed at Kittitian Hill Resort” was issued on January 24 2012 and carried verbatim on the website of this media house without any background check for veracity as many of the press releases from this source have come to be regarded as being factual.
As persons began to express surprise at the speed at which these cottages must have been erected and as many residents in the surrounding area of Kittitian Hill began to wonder where these cottages were located, this media house began to become concerned that their website might be regarded as a peddler of false information.
Persons then travelled to the area to photograph these cottages to quell the expressed suspicions of the enquiring public.
Much to our dismay the forty cottages could not be found.
A worker on the site was then asked how many cottages had been completed thus far. The worker responded that only one cottage had been completed but that about ten more were under construction.
Journalists at this media house are familiar with and understand “spin” and ‘propaganda’ coming from politically oriented sources. The perspective from which an article is written sometimes exaggerates or diminishes the facts of a situation.
But it is difficult to understand how a mistake could be made between one and forty one and hence the press release must be regarded as totally false.
The question now is – Why would a Press Secretary peddle false information to the public about a situation that could be easily disproved?
To whom was this Press Release really intended?
Unless the Press Secretary explains this error to the public his credibility will be seriously questioned in the future and each Press Release must be withheld until it can be verified.
This has a very disturbing fallout...because if the public cannot trust the press release coming from the highest office in the land, the government can be accused of betraying the trust of its citizens.
A betrayal of trust is never a good accusation for any government – hence we anxiously await an explanation from the Press Secretary.
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