How strange, and how awkward, that a new Governor who introduces himself to Montserrat with a message of “openness and transparency”, will find that the two independent media houses of Montserrat did not cover his arrival and swearing ceremony at a special sitting of the Legislature.
Following is an excerpt of an emailed letter from the Clerk of Council’s Office which advised about the swearing-in ceremony. We noted that something seemed unusual about the brief press release from the Governor’s office which also advised about the ceremony and said: “Members of the public are invited to attend and should be seated inside the Cultural Centre by 1.50 pm.”
The Clerk of Council’s letter said: “An invitation is extended to you to be a part of this event.
You are kindly asked not to take photographs on this occasion, as the official photographer will make photographs available to the media.”
The following line ended the letter. “Your presence and coverage of this event will be greatly appreciated.”
We could not imagine what was going on here but this kind of ignorance continuously shown the independent media is becoming unbearable. Perhaps we should treat this as mere ignorance. However, there is a sense that despite all the talk of transparency, various government departments, not all mind you, do not ever send information to the media. How did we get to the point where ZJB radio is thought of as the only media house in Montserrat.
It is our experience that this is not the first time we have been excluded from taking our own photographs. There is so much that can be said on this matter. The photographs are never made available, and if they are, usually at a cost; People’s Television use video not photographs. This is the first time the Montserrat Reporter will not show a Governor taking his oath of office.
We responded that we considered this information and request unprofessional and we hope that the mystery of exclusion will be unraveled to us.
We could not help thinking that there must be some sense of guilt and even pleasure to hear the new Governor promise monthly meeting with the media.
We look forward to this with cautious optimism.
We welcome Governor Davis and his wife Su to this far away from home land. We too, for now anyway hope that he will leave a Montserrat already out of the hole that some people feel comfortable blaming the volcano for.
