JAMAICA CONTINUES to receive strong international rating for its press freedom. According to The World Press Freedom Review 2004, Jamaica is committed to upholding press freedom and other human rights but cautioned over the use of legislation to curb the press, here and in the Caribbean.
The report, published by the International Press Institute and released to coincide with World Press Freedom Day being observed today, said that Jamaica, "continued to enjoy a media that is largely free to express critical opinions without significant restrictions."
However, it identified the Anti-Terrorism Act as a concern as critics claim it will prohibit publication of official documents and target anyone who threatens public order.
The report cited the ongoing saga of libel case won by former tourism minister Anthony Abrahams against former editor Dudley Stokes and The Gleaner Company Ltd. Dr. Stokes' appeal to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR) was supported by the US non-governmental organisation Freedom House. Freedom House, said the report, had called for the IAHCR, "...to rebuke the Jamaican government for denying Dudley Stokes ... protection for his freedom of expression and, by extension, threatening the citizens of Jamaica with restricted access to diverse information."
THE ANTI-TERRORISM ACT
The World Press Freedom Review report noted the intervention of human rights advocates Amnesty International, which wrote to the Jamaican government in criticism of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Concern was also voiced over reports that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had threatened to monitor and prosecute talk show hosts who discuss criminal cases still pending before the courts.
Elsewhere in the Caribbean, Haiti was singled out as the region's worst for media freedom, where Spanish television journalist Ricardo Ortega was shot dead in the capital Port-au-Prince on March 7, possibly by US troops, while covering a demonstration. Neighbouring Dominican Republic saw 2004's second murder of a journalist in the Caribbean; local radio broadcaster Juan Emilio Andujar Matos was shot dead as he left station premises in the town of Azua on September 14.
In Cuba, 22 of 29 journalists arrested in the March 2003 government crackdown remain in prison.
Meanwhile, in Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell was accused of using criminal defamation legislation to intimidate journalists.
