Miller’s Contempt Is Not For The Press It’s For The People…

The Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) is angry at Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller for refus­ing to allow her­self to be inter­viewed par­tic­u­lar­ly after the vis­it of British Prime Minister David Cameron.
In a release the (PAJ) said “The dis­grace­ful posi­tion tak­en by Jamaica House” to restrict media access to Simpson Miller, who “has giv­en very few in-depth inter­views dur­ing her term in office which would allow indi­vid­ual jour­nal­ists to ade­quate­ly probe her ideas and policies”.
 “The prime minister’s stead­fast refusal to face the media is unprece­dent­ed in mod­ern times, and is con­temp­tu­ous of and dis­mis­sive of the Jamaican press to an unbe­liev­able degree,” 
“We urge Jamaica House to begin to pay the local press the respect it deserves, and to imme­di­ate­ly begin to sched­ule reg­u­lar press con­fer­ences with the Prime Minister, for the ben­e­fit of the pub­lic which we serve,”.

Old Jamaican proverb. Never pick a fight with some­one who buys ink in a barrel.
Has this proverb lost it’s lit­er­al meaning?
Old Jamaican proverb . The pen is might­i­er than the sword.
Has this proverb lost it’s lit­er­al meaning?
In Jamaica’s case it has, because local Journalists have default­ed to intel­lec­tu­al lazi­ness and par­ty polit­i­cal affil­i­a­tions which has ren­dered the press inca­pable of unearthing and expos­ing the truth as it should.
The Jamaican Press has for the most part aligned itself as does most oth­er sec­tors of the balka­nized Jamaican soci­ety to one or the oth­er of the coun­try’s two main polit­i­cal parties.

Even as it crit­i­cizes the Prime Minister for not mak­ing her­self avail­able to answer ques­tions the (PAJ) has allowed it’s bruised ego to cloud the real issue of the Administration’s dis­dain and lack of respect for the Jamaican people.
The fact is that this has noth­ing to do with the Press and every­thing to do with the Jamaican people.
The press miss­es the boat even as it is cor­rect in its assess­ment of Miller This is not about respect or the lack there­of for the press.
The press is in the busi­ness of pro­vid­ing infor­ma­tion to the pub­lic not about gar­ner­ing respect for itself.
The issue here is the Administration’s con­tempt for the right of the peo­ple to know what it is sup­pos­ed­ly doing on their behalf.
It is fair to con­clude that the Administration is not act­ing on behalf of the public.
And on that basis it believes it has no oblig­a­tion to be accessible.
One can­not refuse to be account­able to his/​her bosses.