{"id":899,"date":"2017-11-29T19:04:55","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T19:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=899"},"modified":"2017-11-29T19:04:55","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T19:04:55","slug":"question-your-biases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=899","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Question your biases&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Michael Nattoo<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em>Staff Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>National Journalism Week Western Jamaica Forum<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Press Association of Jamaica, on Tuesday, November 28, 2017, partnered with the University of the West Indies, Mona \u2013 Western Jamaica Campus (WJC), and the US Embassy, Kingston, to continue its celebration of National Journalism Week under the theme \u201cMedia Accountability in the Digital Age\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The observance of the week of activities, which began on Sunday, November 27, delivered in this Western edition a lecture at the Western Campus, in which the topic: \u201cWho\u2019s Watching The Watchdog? Media Regulation in Jamaica and Elsewhere\u201d was explored. This discussion was led by Dr. Janet Steele, Director of the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication at George Washington University in the United States, who facilitated lively conversations with students and prominent figures in media Lloyd B. Smith, CEO of Western Publishers Limited and Editor-in-Chief of the <strong>Western Mirror<\/strong>, and veteran Journalist and President of the Press Association of Jamaica, Dionne Jackson Miller.<\/p>\n<p>In a forum which saw a number of points being raised, the prevailing discussion, led by Dr. Steele, centred on freedom of the press, with a particular interest in how such a powerful estate, charged with maintaining balance and transparency, holds itself to the same standards. Such conversations brought to the fore certain ideas the PAJ had been entertaining, particularly that of establishing a Press Council or a Complaint Council. This body, which would ideally be independent, would be charged with \u2018watching the watchdogs\u2019, mediating cases of public grievances with the media, particularly for issues that cannot be legally challenged, but violate certain ethical guidelines media practitioners should be abiding by.<\/p>\n<p>President of the PAJ, Jackson Miller, added her voice to that conversation, stating that such a body would help to drive further accountability among local, and particularly young journalists, whom she believes are not being informed enough. The PAJ President further explained that such a body would also act as a data reservoir for the public, supplying information on certain areas (defamation for example) that the public, as well as journalists, may not be aware of.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>&#8216;FAKE NEWS&#8217;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Of note is that though there were discussions being had regarding a council to regulate certain elements of the media, Dr. Steele was quick to point out that Jamaica consistently ranks high on the list of countries that enjoy true freedom of the press, ranking this year at 19, two places above the US, 21. In explaining why a country such as the US, whose First Amendment prevents any encroachment upon the rights and freedoms of the press, places lowly in the international rankings, Dr. Steele said this is owed to the recent attack on the press by President of the United States, Donald Trump, who has weaponized his use of the term \u2018Fake News\u2019. Steele went on to explain that this misnomer, \u2018Fake News\u2019, has vilified journalistic work in the US, especially any work that seems to disagree with the President. \u201cCalling certain entities \u2018Fake News\u2019 is a disingenuous position to take by the president, and is deliberate misinformation. Clearly, disagreeing with someone\u2019s point of view does not make the information they produce incorrect or inaccurate,\u201d Dr. Steele offered.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this threat to the press, Steele revealed that the US media landscape remains skeptical of any external body that may suggest regulating the press\u2019 power in any way. If Jamaica is to undertake such a move to establish a Press Council, as was done in places like Malaysia and Indonesia, Steele suggests due research be done to decide the relevance of such a body in the Jamaican context, as well as how such would be funded.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick Prendergast, Director of the UWI Mona \u2013 WJC, who chaired the programme, offered his thoughts on the discussion, and brought attention to the need for self-examination among journalists. Prendergast commented on the need to question our own biases, especially within the context of a Press Council, and that subjecting ourselves to that level of introspection will force us to consider more than just the Code of Ethics as journalists in the Digital Age.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>HONOURING PHILLIP GREEN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The discussions culminated in the honouring of one of Western Jamaica\u2019s premiere Photo-Journalists, the <strong>Western Mirror<\/strong>\u2019s very own Phillip Green, who was presented with a citation by Lloyd B. Smith, documenting his over 40 years of stellar service to the Jamaican journalism landscape. Green is set to be honoured in Kingston at a special luncheon today at the Courtleigh Auditorium, where he will officially receive his citation from the PAJ.<\/p>\n<p>National Journalism Week ends on Saturday, December 2, 2017.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Nattoo Staff Reporter National Journalism Week Western Jamaica Forum The Press Association of Jamaica, on Tuesday, November 28, 2017, partnered with the University of the West Indies, Mona \u2013 Western Jamaica Campus (WJC), and the US Embassy, Kingston, to continue its celebration of National Journalism Week under the theme \u201cMedia Accountability in the Digital [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[262,263,265,264],"class_list":["post-899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-national-journalism-week","tag-press-association-of-jamaica","tag-university-of-the-west-indies-mona-western-jamaica-campus","tag-western-mirror"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=899"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":901,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions\/901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}