DPP cautions media workers to be responsible

While it is all well and good to talk about ‘Freedom of expression’, there is also the need for responsibility.{{more}}

So says Colin Williams, former journalist and current Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as he addressed the 2011 UNESCO sponsored Caribbean Media and Communication Conference, which took place here last week, as the world celebrated World Press Freedom Day.

Williams, speaking to local and regional journalists, most members of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union and/ or the Association of Caribbean Media workers, said that there needed to be a balance between freedom of expression and responsibility, as they are both intimately intertwined and interconnected.

“Little or nothing is now said of a person’s responsibility, as if rights to freedom of expression exist to the exclusion of everything else, or that responsibility and duty are the flipside of the coin that remains hidden when the issue of rights to freedom is exposed.”

“Too often our people become consumed in themselves and are so preoccupied with their right to freedom of expression, without recognizing that other persons have rights as well; or even speak as though this inalienable right is without limit, without any boundaries whatsoever.”

The DPP, who has worked in the print and broadcast media, said that freedom of expression is both the strength and weakness of what he called ‘The New Media’, referring to the rise and popularity of social networks, which he noted most persons are now turning to for information, which some of the times is misleading and incorrect.

He pointed out that the quest to satisfy the yearnings of those engaged in this New Media has caused persons to become engaged in irresponsible and illegal practices.

“For example, as unbelievable as this may sound, as contemptuous as it may appear, there was a situation here where a trained lawyer, of all persons, in a court of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was taking pictures and loading it up and putting it on Facebook.”

“That demonstrates how irresponsible some persons conduct themselves.”

“And there is also those who would condone such conduct by dressing it up in a fig leaf of ‘freedom of expression.’”

He said that the absence of a monitoring system, control or proper supervision of this new media could lead to injustice and anarchy due to abuse.

He noted that the traditional must embrace the many positives which the new social media offers.

According to Williams, the traditional or ‘Old Media’ has a part to play in keeping a balance, and will be around for a long time to come.

“Despite the attractions and appeal of the social media, I believe that persons would still rely on the known, trusted, reliable sources for verification, even if not for initial information.”

“They rely on the new media for significant update or the breaking stories, but when they want to get authorized and informed material, they would return to the traditional media. That is my belief.”