THE Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) yesterday called on the Government of Jamaica and all other Caribbean community countries to take action to erase the common law offences of criminal libel, including blasphemous, obscene and seditious libel from their statute books.
“It is a position endorsed by a Joint Select Committee of the Jamaican Parliament in 2008, following submission of the Justice Hugh Small Report that very year,” the ACM, in reference to the situation in Jamaica, said in its message to mark World Press Freedom Day being celebrated today.
It added: “Though the media landscape in the Caribbean is undergoing a measure of change, such change is not being matched by a corresponding revolution in official mindset. Despite repeated promises, the Government of Guyana persists in its refusal to award new radio broadcasting licences and has used state advertising revenues as a tool of media punishment and reward.”
I would be concerned if in my country there was no redress for slander. People would have a field day on your character – true or false. At least with a law in place, it does not say that they cannot say what is true about you, but they have to becareful about spreading false information.
Why? So that you media morons can get away with more character assasination than you already do? I say make the libel laws TIGHTER , not LIGHTER.
SPEAK IT BROThER/SISTER
I am surprised that not many people are commenting on this very important issue! I say yes!! With with responsibility goes accountability, and if they refuse to give us a account, then we find it ourselves and share it with the people. The people’s right to know is far more important protecting the wrong doers.
The ptople’s right to know may not be taken out of context; rather the right to be informed of the truth is the most often defended responsibility of journalists. Misrepresenting facts, distorting, manipulating, or politicising important issues with impunity cannot be tolerated in democratic society. The law must protect the weak from the deceit and viciousness of unscrupulous media.
There can be a compromise. If the journalist rescinds his right to protection of his sources of information, then libel or slander can be legally addressed at the source.
only read the first part and i have to agree. if you are a public figure then you are putting yourself in a position to be scutinized and criticized. one should be able to take the heat that comes with their positon of power.
too add inlmost of these cases…the hunches are usually the truth …they jus can’t be proven because of all thes corruption tha goes on
and even if facts were presented it would make no differnce anyways…as we’ve seen time and time again
how foolish are you to reply to yourself
Hell no!!!! So you mean the media people want to deny the common man the right to seek redress for possible liars and mischief which may be committed by a growing number of unscrupulous journalists and so-called political hatchet men who engage in character assassinations and destroying of other people’s characters?
This just can’t be so. People must have the right to seek legal compensation when wronged. Otherwise many innocent people will be labelled as thieves, vagabonds, and rapists etc, their reputations forever damaged and there simply would be no form recourse to them.
This just should not be allowed to happen, period!!!
GEEEZ , I WONDER IF YOU WOULD BE SO INCLINED TO REMOVE THE IMMUNITY ENJOYED BY THE MEMBERS OF PAR-LIAR-MENT , WHERE THEY CAN SLANDER PEOPLE WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PROSECUTION?