Hugh Small, QC is engaged in creating Jamaica's first Institue of Arbitration.

The committee set up by Prime Minister Bruce Golding to review the Libel and Slander Act will meet, on January 15 at the Northern Caribbean University in Manchester and Wednesday, January 30 at Stephanie Hall, Holy Childhood in St. Andrew, to continue deliberations on the laws which largely affect media in Jamaica.

The meetings, which will take the form of public forums, will be designed for members of the public to come out and share their views on ways to improve the libel laws.

Chair of the committee, Justice Hugh Small, yesterday encouraged persons to come out to the forums.

"Members of the public should come out and express their views on whether they think that, by reforming the defamation laws, it will assist newspapers, radio stations and the public to reveal corruption," he told The Gleaner.

The committee, which was set up in November of last year, was charged by Prime Minister Golding to open the window of information to the public, as well as protect individuals from unfair, unjust and malicious publication.

The Prime Minister had noted the difficulty sometimes meted out to the press when they try to give information.

The committee, which is chaired by Justice Small, comprises: Oliver Clarke; Lester Spaulding; Shirley Miller; Desmond Richards; David Coore; David Batts; Jermaine C. Spence; John Vassell; Walter H. Scott; Neville James; and Patrick Bailey.