On May 3, journalists commemorated World Press Freedom Day. It could have been particularly celebratory for local journalists since we moved up 11 places from 2020 and now rank 25th out of 190 countries–one place below the UK, higher than several European countries, and higher than Australia.
However, elation soured when it was pointed out that, in fact, our freedom index reflected more of a sharp drop in freedoms in other countries, than advances in ours.
According to its website, the World Press Freedom Index “Reporters sans Frontières” compares journalists’ level of freedom in 180 countries and territories.
This comparison is based on a definition of press freedom formulated by RSF and compiled based on responses from press freedom specialists in 180 countries. Press freedom indicators include political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context and safety.
This is what RSF had to say about Trinidad, with a score of 78.68.
Media landscape: “In T&T parliamentary democracy with a vibrant media landscape and civil society, freedom of the press is a constitutionally guaranteed and widely respected right. Media pluralism is strong, with multiple media outlets expressing many viewpoints, the main ones being the Trinidad Guardian, the oldest newspaper in the country created in 1917, and the Trinidad & Tobago Express, also known as the Daily Express.”
Political context: “There are numerous political parties in Trinidad and Tobago, and power transfers occur peacefully. Political participation is not subject to external pressure, though women are generally underrepresented in political positions.”
Legal framework: “Measures aiming to guarantee respect for journalists’ rights were bolstered in early 2021 thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that struck down the use of police search warrants to access the home and office of a journalist working for the Trinidad Express Newspaper.
The Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) welcomed the decision, and determined that the warrants used to seize “tools of the journalist’s trade” were “unlawful and unconstitutional.”
Safety Record: “With zero journalists imprisoned, killed or missing in 2021 Trinidad and Tobago provides a generally safe and protected environment for the profession.”
Complacency is like a grenade to freedom of speech, and now more than ever, we would be foolish not to recognise that we are interconnected globally, and press freedom is in decline globally.
The Economist last week sounded a warning against Pegasus spyware—as did the Media Association of T&T (MATT) on May 3—acknowledging that social media is used to “harass reporters”; that female journalists “continue to endure online abuse; that dozens of reporters are jailed and killed each year.
The magazine declared that “press freedom is in decline, as hamstrung as was in 1984 during the Cold War,” with 85 per cent of people today living in regimes where press freedom is constrained.
According to The Economist, India is just one example: “This is scariest when it is organised and has the tacit backing of the ruling party. In India, for example, critics of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, face torrents of death and rape threats from Hindu nationalist trolls, who sometimes publish their addresses and incite vigilantes to visit them.”
T&T’s rankings have merit mainly because our journalists have remained vigilant, pushing back at threats to press freedom, strenuously guarding our rights and holding politicians to account.
To give our politicians credit, they have by and large, since independence, respected the institution of the Fourth Estate, primarily when they are held to account.
Still, it’s not business as usual. T&T’s place points are up in Reporters Without Borders and not our percentage rankings.
We have done well to pedal fast to stay at the same percentage point of “satisfactory.” In order not to fall back, our fraternity needs to remain vigilant, become a tighter unit here at home, and engage harder both regionally and internationally in cross border collaborations (mentioned by the Economist) such as those that have exposed scandals including Pegasus and the Panama Papers.
We know the brief: a strong press means a strong watchdog over all institutions of democracy, and the media in T&T have made it clear that is not negotiable.
If we must pedal harder to stay in the same place, we will.
