– call for information ministers to meet periodically
The just-concluded Caribbean Media and Communications Conference (CMCC) has endorsed the UN Special Rapporteur’s citing of the four-month ban on CNS Channel Six as a disproportionate sanction.
UN Special Rapporteur Ambeyi Ligabo, referring to the Channel Six case, said the more subtle censorship tactics “severely restrict the independence of the press while seemingly allowing states to maintain a façade of respect to democratic principles.”
Noting that governments have used advertisements, licences and legislation to exert economic pressures on media houses, Ligabo said the impact of these measures were not restricted to the media outlets or journalists targeted but “serve to create an unsafe and unstable environment for the functioning of the press as a whole, leading them to shun critical reporting and impose self-censorship.”