The Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (Matt) has expressed “serious concern” over the advertising campaign being run by a group called Citizens 4D Highway. MATT described the campaign as an attack on the media and noted that Citizens 4D Highway had “no identifiable face, no telephone contact and postal address.” The group claims it is being denied its freedom of speech by the editors of the daily newspapers, which have refused to publish most of its advertisements.
They include one, Matt noted, which seemed to refer to Highway Re-route Movement leader Dr Wayne Kublalsingh, who has been on hunger strike for several weeks, as a “human reptile.” The ad in question was designed to look like a news page from the T&T Guardian. Similar ads have been aired on radio and television. After some of its ads were turned down, the group began a campaign calling for “freedom from the press.”
It has posted them on its Web site, along with photos of what it described as a “silent demonstration” in which young people with their mouths taped shut are pictured in front of images of the offices of Newsday and the Trinidad Express. Matt said in a release yesterday editors were entitled to refuse to publish any advertisement they deemed harmful to their organisation’s image or was defamatory or in poor taste.
It added: “It is an editor’s right to refuse to print any material, including advertisements in keeping with established standards and policies. According to the Advertising Standards Authority in the United Kingdom, advertisements must not prejudice respect for human dignity.”
Matt emphasised: “Freedom of speech is of paramount importance to a democracy and on par with freedom of the press. However, Matt does not believe this is an issue of the media taking away an organisation’s constitutional right of freedom of speech.”