Why is ‘The News’ so ‘dumb’?

EDITOR: ‘The News’ newspaper of July 15, 2005 carried a story, “NOT A WORD! ‘DUMB’ BROWNE?”, along with a photo of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mike Browne. The article said that “a source that was at the meeting said Browne sat through the whole meeting, which lasted for some seven hours, without uttering a word.”{{more}}

The article went on to say: “No one knows if he (Mike Browne) was advised not to speak, but he just sat there throughout the whole meeting and did not say anything”, the source told “The News.” It continued, “But he reportedly uttered not even a whisper at the meeting and the opposition leaders and other persons are wondering why. He said not a word, says a source close to the CARICOM meeting. Browne’s silence was likened to someone who is ‘dumb’.”

Mr. Editor, it is now known that those statements concerning Mike Browne were lies (which were repeated four times in that short article). Mike Browne, in Parliament on Thursday, July 21, indicated – in the presence of the Leader of the Opposition, Arnhim Eustace – that he spoke twice at that CARICOM meeting. Everyone who listened either on radio or television, heard everything. Mike Browne exposed Arnhim Eustace as a source of information at the said meeting. Eustace just sat there as Browne told the truth, without uttering a word! Not even a whisper! We all know how Eustace is always quick to jump and deny. This time he could not deny as Browne exposed him. I wonder who is really dumb.

Mr. Editor, what I find very disturbing is that ‘The News’ newspaper had the information from the meeting of Parliament, and yet in its paper of last Friday, it said not a word. At the very least, ‘The News’ should publicly apologize to the Minister for telling such untruths about him. Why are they so silent on it? Why is ‘The News’ so DUMB?

Claudette ‘Etty’ Dowers