To the Publisher of the Advocate Newspaper we want to know:
What is the deal with the Advocate not covering the funeral of Stephen Alleyne in yesterday’s edition (23 October 2007)? There are many reasons that should have qualified him as someone who the country must respect for his contributions. His life should be held up for current and future generations to examine and be used as a model in terms of setting personal goals.
Not only was he a cricket administrator, Alleyne, after a meteoric rise, served as CEO of one of Barbados and Caribbean insurance companies. He was a respected Barbadian who at the time of his death was a director in many leading companies in Barbados. Just for his work at the national level to rationalize our Pension Fund, makes Stephen Alleyne deserve a better tribute. There must be something happening about the decision that is worthy of public discourse.
Ok, so you get the picture.
Why would the Advocate which is one of the two dailies not cover Stephen Alleyne’s death? Of course they are not obligated to, given that it is a private company. Their action caused us to indulge in some generous logic which led us to think that it could not have been an oversight. The Advocate is located in the immediate precincts of Kensington Oval, for them not to be aware of the event which had taken on a national significance would be negligence on the part of their reporting staff and management. We therefore came to the conclusion that it was a deliberate editorial decision not to cover the Stephen Alleyne’s funeral. The Advocate newspaper owes its existence to the support of the Barbados public and we deserve to know why would such a decision have been made!
To the Publisher of the Nation newspaper we want to know:
In the Albert Brandford column on Sunday (20 October 2007) he made the observation that subsequent to Stephen Alleyne’s death tributes had come from far and wide, but he had noticed that “not a word from the Minister of Sports Anthony Wood – with whom Alleyne would have been associated since schooldays and more recently in their professional capacities preparing Barbados to host the final of the Cricket World Cup – or from Prime Minister Owen Arthur who had entrusted him with a significant portion of this country’s treasure and international reputation to stage a successful event, which he did.” He chided the government for the five day oversight, if that is what happened. Brandford surprised the nation and BU by doing something which a political correspondent is not known by referring to a rumour as the basis for substantiating a position. He suggested that the reason for the oversight might have some root in certain differences of opinion which occurred at the highest level, it made us go ummmmmmmmmmmm.
The PEOPLE want to know if the two strange occurrences are related, even if they are not we still want to know.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.