Premier calls for code of conduct after media walkout
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has so far remained mum over the reason for barring Guavaberry Media operative, Cindy Rosan from a press conference scheduled by his office yesterday.
The media staged a walkout from yesterday’s planned news conference with Premier Wheatley after Rosan was asked to leave and after waiting for nearly an hour past the scheduled start without any communication over the delay from either the Premier’s Office or the Government Information Services (GIS) which usually hosts the government’s press engagements.
At the time of the walkout, there was still no word from the Premier or the GIS over why Rosan was being prevented by both government officials and police officers from participating at the press briefing.
BVI News initially sought to confirm with the Premier that he indeed barred Rosan from participating at his press event, as she contended, and also why this may possibly have happened.
But after asking our news centre to await a response to those questions, Premier Wheatley instead shared a link to a brief statement from his office which impressed the urgent need for a code of conduct among media operatives.
I support free speech
In that statement, Premier Wheatley contended that he was fully supportive of free speech and freedom of the press as pillars of democracy, and said these should both be exercised responsibly and according to high international standards.
“In light of the importance of high journalistic standards to keep the public informed and recent questionable decorum by at least one person at a recent press conference, the Premier’s Office is urgently calling on the press to collaborate on developing a code of conduct that would help to guide the conduct and behaviour of journalists at press conferences and also offer guidance on the handling of misconduct,” the Premier stated.
The Premier’s missive further indicated that his office will be requesting a meeting with the press corps on the development of a policy on government press conferences and shared that he looked forward to engaging ‘vibrant local media partners’ in this endeavour.
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Dog and pony show.
No drowning!
One person can’t be both a candidate for elected office a
and a member of the press attempting to interview other candidates – time for Sindee to decide.
Does Guaveberry Media have a trade license to be a media enterprise or is it just Sindee and her cell phone?
No trade license = no admittance to press conferences.
If the media was not thinking what Cindy was thinking, they would not walk out. She is just bold enough to ask things. Are you skilled enough to answer it? Maybe the rulebook that needs to be developed should be about how one can lead like a leader for those who may not be qualified to lead.
Is this a foreign news operation because there is no such company incorporated in the BVI?
Does it have a trade license?
he forget how he the talk to people when he got one or two drinks in him and the forget his role
I agree with the Premier as long as it does not stop the freedom of the press and freedom of information. Like government and all other public officers including the Governor, there should be a code of conduct as freedom without accountability and responsibility leads to chaos.
Government’s suggested media code of conduct:
Item 1: don’t ask difficult questions that highlight incompetence, abuse of public office or corruption.
Item 2: don’t ask what happened to the billions of dollars of government revenue that were paid in since the 1980s; in light of our terrible infrastructure.
Item 3: don’t ask why long term residents of good character, who actually pay their taxes, Social Security contributions and NHI don’t get to vote…
It is only because of the push back and public back lash that he is now making an attempt to save face. If the majority of the masses had supported this embecilical behavior you would never have called for a code of ethics good try slowman. It was not long ago when you refuse to answer a question put to you by someone from the press and it wasnt cindy. So this is a continued practice. Remember you are an illegitimate premier you neither process the charisma or the good will of the people to be autocratic. You are no fat Albert.
LOOKS LIKE THAT GIRL HAS GOT SOME PEOPLE DUCKING FROM HER AND TO YOU THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE LAND OF NATURE’S LITTLE SECREST , NOT HIDDEN SECRETS , SO THE PRESS HAS TO ASK THE QUESTIONS THST NTHE PEOPLE WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT OF WHAT HE IS DOING FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE COUNTRY , HE ISN’T WORKING FOR HIMSELF , NEITHER DOES HE OWN THE BVI ( THAT HOLY LADY NEEDS TO CHECK HIS PROSTATE AND HIS SEEDS
LOOKS LIKE THAT GIRL HAS GOT SOME PEOPLE DUCKING FROM HER AND TO YOU THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE LAND OF NATURE’S LITTLE SECREST , NOT HIDDEN SECRETS , SO THE PRESS HAS TO ASK THE QUESTIONS THE PEOPLE WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT OF WHAT HE IS DOING FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE COUNTRY , HE ISN’T WORKING FOR HIMSELF , NEITHER DOES HE OWN THE BVI ( THAT HOLY LADY NEEDS TO CHECK HIS PROSTATE AND HIS SEEDS TO SEE IF HE LEFT THEM AT (SAVE D SEED )
This is the BVI where we normalize hoggish behavior.
Problem with trade licences is; who controls who gets a trade licence? So the government can/could just censor the media through the granting of trade licences… A tricky problem…
THIS IS PERSONAL
A new Saddam in the making
How the F**K did Cindy become a journalist? No training or proper etiquette needed? We need to be careful what message we are sending with these things. Freedom of speech should not be used as an excuse for people to drag others name through the mud, politician or not. Cindy is not a f**king journalist and should not be allowed, point blank. We support a lot of dumb f**k around here and then act shocked at the results. Where else in the world can unqualified persons become part of the press corps? There are codes of conduct in every single profession. Zan Lewis for example always asks hard hitting questions but he has never been as disrespectful and acting as stupid as Cindy is. BVI people like mellee and confusion so they have no problem with Cindy continuing to embarrass herself. The same media that walked out with her will soon turn on her.
The media need to set some rules for themselves to keep Cindy from misbehaving and publicly disrespecting the Premier, Governor or anyone else. She is a disgrace.
These updeislun folks and their untamed and mistaken for manners by hook or by crook are toxic to the VI. Example..killing ,shooting within one week and a big red mouth foreign wanna Bee, again publicly begging attention and being rejected in no uncertain terms
by the unattainable object of her affection and disaffection.
Be cool Roze.,stick with your hoods. Their open arms are your comfort zone. They got you covered just as you cover for them.
Should the Premier allow all the crazy people in his Press Conference? Just asking for the school children.
This Premier jokey badd… He really waste everybody time hiding from Cindy at his own press conference.
She is no journalist! Not by any standard, Licence, qualification, nothing!
There is no such Company incorporated in the BVI.
A Company Search with FSC’s Registry would confirm it is not registered as a Company.
Where is the transparency?
False I’d and claim to be a journalist and under a false company..
I sn’ t that a crime?
Plenty of folks have trade licenses for things they are not qualified to do. Let’s take people calling themselves “contractors” and “consultants”. Most are in construction and they don’t know how to use a hammer. They hire people to do the work but really can’t supervise it since they have no idea of what is to be done. Some people have endless trade licenses. Are they qualified to have ALL of them? Be careful about pointing your fingers asking BVIslanders to be “qualified” for those trade licenses. You might just get what you asked for. If you are going to press for so called journalists to be qualified then you’ll have to press for all. Just take a look at the demand for a COI and what happened when they got what they asked for.
We as a people with some common sense should stop acting the fool and
encourage persons to do the same. In this profession, you are required to have a license in order to ask questions and have them answered. Now we are saying because we have freedom of speech, anyone on the street can go to a press conference and ask the Premier questions and act the fool when told that this is unacceptable. No wonder we can’t move forward because wrong is always right in this place. Do we understand why some of the young people are unable to comprehend where they are going wrong? I will answer- because of what they continue to see us do (bul_sh_t).
Dictator.
No premier or chief minister before you has banned anyone from a press conference and definitely never suggested a code of conduct.
This might help out both the press and the members of house of assembly or whatever its called.
For journalists, the top code of ethics is to seek truth and report it. Here is a link. Now everybody get in line and act responsibly. Both premare and press
https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
Let me answer #3. If such a large nation like the UK has such extreme concerns about immigration, why would you expect us to open our little house doors to the world just because you don’t wish to go home? You find fault with our ways and yet you don’t want to be away from here? I left my country for several years and returned, if you are not pleased with our governing system leave!
(Item 3: don’t ask why long term residents of good character, who actually pay their taxes, Social Security contributions and NHI don’t get to vote…)
Nothing is wrong with the media Mr.Premier, Just answer the questions calmly and honestly You are making a simple matter complicated, you are actually marketing Cindy and raising her profile..Answer the question kill the story, the more you bitch, the more traction the story gets, the longer it lives.
The media only left because the Premier didn’t come back into the room, it has nothing to do with Cindy. If the Premier came back and held the press conference they would’ve all participated.
No company called Guavaberry Media Inc!
No trade license!
No journalism qualifications!
Alleges she has issued and served legal proceedings when no proceedings were ever filed!
A fine upstanding journalist?
He need to call for some backbone and answer the questions and stop the childish shenanigans.
Who could anticipate such a clown and nonsense pistarcle of an uninvited ahm ahm wannabee and uncouth impostor.
EXACTLY! EXACTLY! EXACTLY! PLAIN AND SIMPLE, YOU ARE NOT THE PRESS. STAY OUT!!!!!!!!! OH GUSH MAN
LIKE IT, NOT NO STORY AND MALLAE; FACT, THERE WITH SHE “SLEEPING ON AIRPORT FLOOR” AND NOTING GO SO, STUPES. 2ND, YOU CAN NOT BE A POLITICAL OPPONENT AND STILL BE A REPORTER, DAAAUUUUUHHHHH YOU WILL BE BIAS. GO GET YOUR LICENSE, STICK OUT OF POLITICS.
LOOKS LIKE YOU BLOGGING CRAZY ? DO YOU HAVE A BOOK WITH ALL THOSE FAKE NAMES YOU USING ,OR YOU JUST CREATIVE ? HEY BLONDIE HOW ABOUT BLOGGING THE TRUTH FOR ONCE , YOU MAY LIKE IT
– Premier needs to grow a pair and not run away from questions. A simple “no comment” to any of her nonsense would of even been better than what transpired.
– GIS needs to wake up and set some standards for media conferences so they don’t devolve into some ridiculousness like what happened here. Hire some people with actual PR and Media Relations training to run the department if they can’t figure out what those standards should be.
– Media in general here is a joke so it’s no surprise that “Guavaberry” gets into some of these conferences, but there needs to be some credentials required to be considered a “journalist”….and as mentioned in a previous comment, credentials should be required for other professions to, prior to trade licence issuance.
What poppishowness. Parna not ready at all
Double standards saying at one corner of His mouth he wants democracy but doing a next ting ! Reactive
How about a code of conduct for politicians? They are running scared, trying to change the subject
I totally agree with the premier, she’s out of order, have no respect, come on there’s a time and a place for everything