Editorial – (Reprint of an opinion from March 2000)
By C Squared.
Many persons have viewed newspapers worldwide in deviant ways. Some see the press as the country’s information source, some see it as a medium for spreading propaganda, others see it as something that keeps the public aware of what is happening, yet others think it keeps the authorities in check and other persons could not care less.
Regardless in which category we find ourselves, a newspaper is very important to any country or island. A newspaper, in my opinion, is more important than other sources of information such as radio or television. Don’t get me wrong – television and radio are important – they give you information in real time, but after the broadcasting of their information, they’re not available to peruse like a newspaper. A newspaper can be sent worldwide and will be around for many years.
Now having said all of that, a newspaper should be used by everyone to air their views without fear of repercussion from anyone. That’s the way it should be, but unfortunately that’s not the case with most newspapers. The persons who write to the newspaper are mainly the ones who write to complain about or question something. Very few persons would write to compliment or congratulate. What happened to those persons who have a problem with the ones who want to express their views about something they deem questionable? Why don’t they write to praise persons or groups or whomever they think deserve such honors?
This is where the problem lies. Enough of us are not taking time out to let each other know that an individual or group has done something good, but only to criticize when someone else sees things from another perspective. We should respect another person’s viewpoint whether we agree with it or not. Let us put our pens to paper and counteract those who see everything in a negative way while keeping in mind that the part they play might be important.
It is my opinion that the Editor of the newspaper should publish articles sent to his publication regardless of who sent them or whose feathers might be ruffled, as long as the article is not libelous, or scandalous and be so proven.
The people who write the articles also have the right to remain anonymous to the public as long as the editor knows who they are. There are a lot of things we may not agree with but must learn to live with. Let us not forget that editors cannot be forced to disclose their sources of information when requested to do so. They must be willing to go to jail if need be to protect their informants and those wishing to remain anonymous, but there are conditions.
The foregoing was written in March 2000 and as far as we can remember came shortly after DFID withdrew funding a very popular section in the newspaper published by the Government, under the heading”, “Government Information.
This same writer was sure on to the something that didn’t get any better as the very next writing was titled, “We’ve endured much worse, so why can’t we unite now?”
That article states: “But something seems to be going wrong right now. For the size of this little rock, and all the trials and testing we’ve been through, and are still faced with, is it not time that we at least try to iron out our differences?
The article towards the end says, “However, the top cannot be going up and the bottom going down.”
Conditions and circumstances have changed since 13 years ago, but it all got far worse in ways we will highlight in time to come, how leaving the people not only finding it difficult to unite but riddled with fear.
