A peek in the Media Centre at the International Finance Centre, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain. Photo: MARCUS GONZALES

Communications co-ordinator of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, Felipe Noguera, says about 1,200 media personnel from 34 countries will visit for the Summit from April 17 to 19. He also says the media centre will be opened today, from 10 am. Noguera was conducting a media briefing exercise, which was attended by a phalanx of journalists at The International Financial Centre, Tower C, at Hyatt Regency Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

The media were also addressed by media centre manager Melanie Gibb. Noguera said: “About 1,200 journalists and media personnel are expected. “The centre will be opened tomorrow (today). Packages will be given out. We will be inviting the media to tour one of the ships which will feature cultural entertainment.” Going past posters which read: “T&T, where the world meets,” journalists left the main accreditation centre on the sixth floor to get a tour of the available accommodation and technology. Noguera said: “Some of the rooms are still getting ready.”

While some of them were outfitted with furniture, outside some of the rooms were chairs and desks waiting to be arranged. Empty cardboard boxes were piled in a heap. He gave a battery of media professionals a quick peek at interview rooms. Another official, Crispin Thomas, gave a synopsis on one of the rooms where there will be video feeds for Summit 1 and Summit 2 and supplementary feeds. Another stop was at the master control room, or “nerve centre” of operations.

“We have signals coming in and going out. Any footage will be ingested here. We will be able to feed anything...anywhere in the building. We will be able to put out feeds that would go to the Americas and Western Europe,” said Richard Wilde, a technician.
The party made their way past other technicians, who were fiddling and installing highly-sophisticated equipment. There were other rooms with Canada and Xin Hau (Voice) News etched above. There was another room were faxes would be made available at a small fee.

On Level Five, there was another room catering to an “overspill.”
“Should the main room be saturated, they can use here. Journalists would be given refreshments, too.” Noguera said people wishing to interview heads of state would have to give their contact information to key members of the Secretariat, like Cheryl Moses and Dennis McComie.

About the Media Centre:

Level 2–print media and management
Level 3—print media
Level 4—Radio broadcast media
Level 5–Television broadcast media
Level 6—Media Briefing Hall and Interview Room

Media pools
The media pools will consist of 25 media personnel and will have access to photograph the heads of delegations during the opening ceremony, plenary session and closing ceremony. The media pools will have access to parallel events—ie: private sector, youth and civil society fora and have photo opportunities at the meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and social actors, plenary and other spouses programmes.