Scribes...

In an article he entitled 'Unsubscribed scribes' Paolo Kernahan took many of us to task who dared speak out against the journalists who "have apparently slid between the satin sheets of governance" (his words), and went on to describe the financial horrors that many other working journalists and other media workers have already professed.

His article seemed to speak on the plight of all workers in the profession, so I would like to take this opportunity to offer them some advice.

First off, I think it is sick the advantage some of these publishers, media houses and owners are taking, but let's be honest here, they are only taking advantage because media workers have given it to them by their refusal to form anything like a representative organization with negotiating power. No skilled workers in any profession can expect to be taken seriously without engaging in collective bargaining, none.

That said, let us not forget that all privately owned media houses are first and foremost businesses. They rely on quality product to develop audiences so as to attract advertising revenue and, as all media houses are constantly parading viewership and readership numbers as an indicator of their own popularity, one can assume that they are cognizant of the competition in the industry and the need for professionalism to survive. 

It cannot be that the people of Trinidad & Tobago are too stupid to tell good reporting from unschooled nonesense, so there may be more in this working against the very people on whose behalf Paolo is writing.

Perhaps the questions to ask are:

What is the purpose of MATT?

Are there any standards for accreditation in the industry?

How about  a Journalistic Code of Ethics, is anything like that in place? 

An effective media organization, recognized by both Government and the Publishers as representative of the entire profession and charged with accrediting media workers and enforcing a code of ethics can engage in collective bargaining on behalf of all their members, thereby raising the collective standards of both living and of journalistic excellence.

An industry policy should be set that only accredited and members in good standing of the Media Workers Organization could be allowed to practice in the profession, and steps should be taken to enforce this.

An arrangement like this benefits the media workers, the audience and the publishers alike, as everyone would be guaranteed a quality product for a fair wage at the end of the day.

I have been told that it is hard to organize media workers into anything collective for many disparaging reasons (and they 'too cutthroat'), but this hurdle can be overcome on a personal level if the members hope to benefit collectively.

Conversely, they could leave things as they are, align themselves with a political Party and hope for a bligh in the future in exchange for their bias.

Business as usual some say.