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04/14/2004

Press Release

Regional Journalists Challenged to Keep Caribbean People Well-Informed

BUSINESS journalists from around the Caribbean were recently challenged to educate their audiences in “live and direct terms” on the on the meaning of and potential impact of external trade arrangements such as those in the World Trade Organization and the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

The challenge came from Antigua's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Tourism and International Transport, Harold Lovell, who advised the journalists that information on trade should be reported in such a way that educated the public and made them aware of the decisions they had to make in preparation for the impact of the many external trade agreements the region was involved in.

He was speaking at the Royal Antiguan Hotel at the start of a Regional Workshop on Trade for Journalists/Media Practitioners, which was being co-sponsored by the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) and the United States Agency for International Development-funded Caribbean Trade and Competitiveness Development Project (C-TRADECOM).

The Minister said that as small nations, the countries of the region had large challenges in meeting the requirements of trade agreements and also competing. He said it was the duty of the media to help persons understand these new realities. However, he said that in helping their audiences understand the new realities, it was important that the media practitioner emphasize that while it was true that global pressures were forcing reform on small nations, it was the responsibility of those nations to ensure that they reduced and eliminated waste and inefficiencies in their societies.

At the end of the two-day workshop many of participants expressed the view that the initiative had achieved its objectives of exposing them to, and sensitizing them, on external trade issues. Additionally, participants said the workshop had strengthened their capacity to critically and independently analyze ongoing trade negotiation issues, with a view to better informing and consulting with their constituents.

Among resource persons who participated in the workshop were Ambassador Richard Bernal, Director General of the CRNM; Corey Henry, Associate Editor of Inside Washington Trade; Edward Ince, founder and owner of Prisma, an outsourcing services firm specializing in the financial services and the airline industry in the Central America and Caribbean region, as well as Dr. Anthony Gonzalves, RNM Director for World Trade Organisation affairs;James Moss Solomon, RNM Private Sector Advisor and Michelle Lowe, RNM Free Trade Area of the Americas Coordinator.

Topics which were addressed in great detail included The Role of the Journalist in A Globalized World: Some Perspectives for the Caribbean Media Practitioner; CARICOM's External Trade Priorities; External Trade and Caribbean Private Sector Competitiveness; The WTO: Cancun and Beyond; The FTAA: Miami and Beyond and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

THE NASSAU GUARDIAN's report on the workshop

- By LINDSAY THOMPSON,Guardian Business Editor lthompson@nasguard.com

Media practitioners from around the region participated in a workshop on trade, during which they were given guidelines on how to simplify reporting on trade issues.

Offering tips on 'Trade and Business Policy Reporting: The Practical and Conceptual Challenges Journalists Face' was Associate Editor of Inside U.S. Trade, Corey Henry.

Based on his experience, Mr Henry noted that trade and business reporters face a three pronged process, each of which needs to be conquered to yield an informative story.

"The reporter must master the conceptual challenge of understanding the issue, the practical problems of time-management and the obstacles and opportunities presented by globalization," he said.

The seminar, held April 5 to 6 at the Royal Antiguan Hotel on Antigua, was sponsored by the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery and C-TradeCom.

At the opening ceremony held April 4, participants also heard from Harold Lovel, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Tourism and International Transportation, Antigua & Barbuda; Director-General of the Regional Negotiating Machinery, Dr. Richard Bernal, and William Phelps, Chief of Party, C-TradeCom.

Mr Lovell deemed the workshop timely and important, as journalists have a fundamental role to play in shaping and forming of public opinion.

Dr. Bernal outlined the objectives of the workshop as to:

1 - Expose and sensitise media to issues involving negotiations in pending trading blocs;

2 - strengthen ability of participants to critically analyse issues; and,

3 - strengthen media capacity to effectively participate in debates on trade issues.

With globalisation being the buzz word in the wake of pending trade agreements, participants were told that the opportunity to report on trade policy and business issues presents one of the most interesting news environments for journalists to ply their craft.

"It is a world of significant intrigue that revolves around actions and events on many different levels," Mr Henry said. "Reporters might focus their efforts on international, political or economic disputes over a particular trade policy and all the fallout such a dispute generates.

Alternately, a reporter might examine a quarrel over a domestic trade or business matter."

One necessary component of globalisation is the birth of new trade and investment rules that facilitate the elimination of certain trade barriers, thus causing both the volume and the nature of trade and investment flows to significantly shift.

On a bilateral level, he advised Caribbean reporters to examine the impact of existing preferential trade arrangements with the U.S., including reporting on how such agreements make it through the "snake-pit", that is the U.S. Congress.

Regionally, Caribbean reporters were encouraged to focus on the Free Trade Area of the Americas, with a plethora of stories emerging of great interest to readers from a variety of backgrounds.

Multilaterally, Caribbean journalists can set their sights on the on-going WTO negotiations and the implications for the region, advised Mr Henry.

Locally, he encouraged journalists to document the first-hand effects, both positive and negative, the new trade and investment rules have had on the nations of the Caribbean.

In many instances, he said, the working journalist will be reporting on the linkage between domestic and international trade policy issues.

According to Mr Henry, precise and concise stories related to trade policy demand that a reporter be prepared to look at an issue from many different angles.

He observed that the most pressing and difficult conceptual challenge that must be conquered before a journalist can really begin the work of producing a story is to understand the issue at hand, particularly in the trade policy world where debates and disputes often center on extremely complicated intricacies.

Mr Henry told of a recent story he covered: The imposition of safeguard tariffs on ten steel product categories by the Bush Administration in the spring of 2002, that were finally lifted in December 2003.

In the story, domestic constituencies within the United States waged an "extremely bitter fight" over the tariffs, while at the same time the Bush Administration clashed with other countries at the World Trade Organisation, a fight the U.S. would ultimately lose.

Mr Henry said that his assignment was to answer two questions: One, Will the U.S. lose its appeal of the initial WTO panel ruling? And the second, what will the Bush Administration do if it loses that appeal?

"Answering them was a great challenge, at times a nightmare," he said. "Entering into the realm of U.S. trade policy is never easy, particularly when the issue involved steel, one of the most heated and controversial arenas of U.S. trade policy."

From the onset, Mr Henry said he had to learn and understand what had already happened.

Who was pressing for the tariffs? Who was opposed? Why did the U.S. International Trade Commission recommend imposing the tariffs? Why did the Administration not only follow that recommendation but also go beyond the remedy suggested? Why did the WTO rule against the tariffs?

"Before I could go forward, I had to look backwards. So I needed to research and answer these questions and many more that were germane to any future reporting I would do," he said.

After covering those bases, he said he was able to report clearly on the issue right until the tariffs were lifted in December, and although covering the story was still a challenge, it was manageable and enjoyable.

On the practical side, he advised that after conquering the conceptual challenges, a reporter must face the most difficult challenge: Reporting the story and writing it.

"Many trade and business sources will attempt to foist upon journalists one-sided and unbalanced viewpoints on issues," he said. "A reporter should take stock of it and compare and contrast it with other information in order to assemble a complete picture."

He further advised that when a reporter has actually reached the practical stage, where questions are being put to sources and subjects whose answers then generate more questions, those questions should be focused around a two-tiered guiding light principle: Discover what people are not saying and unearth information that people do not know.

"A reporter must still be careful not to ignore any group perceived to have a significant interest in an issue," he said. "A journalist must contact government officials, politicians, political staff, business representatives, trade lawyers, trade associations, non-government organisations and even ordinary citizens."