FIRE PROBE
by SANKA PRICE and DONNA SEALY
POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING a fire at the Lawrence T. Gay Memorial Primary School that extensively damaged two classrooms of the Matilda Deane Block. The fire in the room used for the two reception classes occurred on August 20. It was the second at the Spooners Hill, St Michael school in three weeks.
Source: Nation
This morning Barbadians hear about yet another news report of a building damaged by fire. It seems to BU that the reports have become all too frequent. Have you the public ever wondered why we never hear of the authorities telling us the cause of the fires after their long investigations? Is it unreasonable to ask why many of the fires which occur under suspicious circumstances never seem to produce a culprit? The biggest question which we should consider is whether our Media Houses is doing a good job to keep serious issues at the forefront of the public. Are Barbadians so pure in their reputations that buildings which have been burned to rubble or extensively damaged should never yield a culprit?
We should blame many but at the top of the pile we hold the Media Houses in Barbados accountable.
A check of Wikipedia defines the role of the press as “its explicit capacity of advocacy and in its implicit ability to frame political issues. The term goes back at least to Thomas Carlyle in the first half of the 19th century.” We think Barbadians in recent months have become resigned to the fact that our media practitioners in Barbados operate with the fear of reprisals if they advocate on any issues which will confront officialdom. Their comfort level is to passively report on the “harmless” events which will usually offend no one.
BU received an email from a person who purports to be a former journalist, after reading we were struck by the clarity in the message and felt obligated to share with our many readers:
Not that the fact that I am a former journalist from the US has anything to do with my question, but since I am I wanted to put my query in some kind of context for you. I would ask this of an editor at the “Nation,” but am not confident I will get an answer, so my husband pointed me to your website and I thought you might have some insight. I worked as a writer and news producer in North Carolina and then in NYC so I am familiar with the Who, What, When, Where and Why of news reporting. However, I found when I moved here and started reading the newspaper and watching local news, I realized that the 5 Ws I was taught in J school and in turn used in my 10 years in TV news, does not apply here. I can accept that; however it is a bit frustrating because to me a story isn’t told if many of those Ws aren’t addressed. Now my question: I first became curious after the Sheraton Mall burned. Never did I read or hear anyone really question WHY it burned. WHAT caused the fire? I would scan the paper for weeks and months on end and NEVER did the press here run any stories of WHAT caused that fire. It seemed that on one really cared, not police, not firemen, not insurance companies, not mall businesses, nobody. And now the recent fires of RTEK, Apsara, and McBrides (I apologize if I have misspelled any of these); I accept the fact that I will NEVER find out the cause of these fires. What is my question? WHY? Why is the public never alerted to causes. Why is the public never really told why a car accident or shooting happens (most shootings and accident stories only address what relative was first on the scene and their emotional condition, etc.). My husband says that Bajans only want to know who someone is related to so that is why all the information on family members, etc.
What we got from the note is simply if Barbadians do not wake up from their slumber and demand more from our Fourth Estate we will start to count the cost as a result very soon.
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