I NOTICED that no representative of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) was included on the panel when the programme The People’s Business was aired on August 15 and discussed BAMP’s partial withdrawal of service from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).
Along with Peter Wickham, the presenter, the panel comprised QEH board chairman Reverend Guy Hewitt, QEH chief executive officer Dr Dexter James and Paula Yarde, director of engineering services.
To me it was clear that in the interest of fairness both parties needed to put their stories to “The People”.
I called the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) hotline to put my question to the panel.
The telephone was answered by someone who was screening the calls. I wanted to know if it was not in the interest of fairness to have a member of BAMP on the panel.
The voice replied: “Uh huh. Thank you.” There ended the conversation. My question was never put to the panel.
As a matter of fact, viewers were treated to a line of callers all reiterating the “heartlessness” of the doctors for cancelling clinics and striking.
Not one question or suggestion slightly in favour of the doctors and their right to strike were put to the panel, even though the programme ran for an extra ten minutes.
And then it was repeated the following night.
How then could the management of CBC question the manner in which the Daily Nation of Thursday, August 19, chose to run the story concerning Noel Lynch?
Both entities chose to present those stories in a manner in which they preferred, for the sake of sensationalism.
THERESE ANTONIO
