By: Mike Rudon Jr.
Belize's very own home-styled tin-pot dictator is acting up again, feeling his oats and swinging his mighty rod to and fro, so to speak. This time he has a new target – the media and that little thing we tend to call freedom of the press. Cause see, like my buddy Boots loves to say – don't be fooled by the noise at the market…be sure to check your change. This isn't about Channel 5 or about Great Belize Productions. This isn't even really about Lord Ashcroft or about our little black Moses battling the mighty white devil. That's all the noise in the market. What this is really all about is sending a clear message to the media in Belize.
What Mr. Barrow is telling our media is that they must tread lightly when it comes to coverage of news which reflects negatively on his motley crew. Don't be dissing the baldhead and the bozo bunch, you hear. And yeah, Channel 5 might be the target of this first warning, but it's a warning for everybody. It's a warning for my friends at Love and at Krem…at Plus Television and Reporter and Amandala and every other media house large and small in this nation. Well except for us here at the Belize Times cause Mr. Barrow knows exactly where he can put his censorship when it comes to us.
I remember back in the good/bad old days when the PUP was in power. Some people will probably think I should just let sleeping dogs lie, but it is what it is. The media was merciless. There was no quarter given in what was a general blood-letting. I used to watch the then Prime Minister and wonder how he could stand there day after day as the media hounds pawed and sniffed and tore at him viciously. It wasn't a pleasant experience. Maybe it was a necessary exercise, but pleasant it certainly wasn't. But with all that, there was not one day when the PUP government sanctioned or punished or severed ties or attempted to stifle any member of the media. See, freedom of the press is supposed to be a sacred thing. In fact it was under the PUP administration that freedom of the press took greater meaning…took wings.
But it's not like that with Mr. Barrow. I've been one who consistently clowns our leader for his lack of balls…Zenaida said it, not me. But fun and joke aside, the truth is that Dean Oliver has a pair of great big monstrous balls. That's not in and of itself a bad thing. In fact it could be a wonderful thing. But Dean O's problem is that even his great big monstrous balls are overshadowed and eclipsed by his gargantuan, monumental, gigantic, vast, massive ego. So big, big ego plus big, big balls equals big, big problem! And that is where we are right now.
Channel 5's news reporting has been sticking in the Prime Minister's craw for some time now. Not because of any bad reporting or wrong reporting or even biased reporting. The thing is that Channel 5's reporters are tenacious and are backed up by resources which allow them to dig deep and dig long. Like with this immigration thing recently which was a huge stinking mess and still is. Mr. Barrow came out smelling really bad. See, he said that after investigations they had arrested the six culprits and that was it…done deal, end of story, moving on. But Channel 5 did not move on like some of the others. The resulting revelations of collusion with the issuing of illegal visas going all the way to the top tiers of government made Mr. Barrow look like a fool, and a blind, incompetent fool at that. Even more than that, he was made to look like a liar…like he was covering up things, hiding things from the Belizean public.
And that is only one story in a long series of things which have made Mr. Barrow and the UDP look very bad. This next thing with Mr. Castro is shaping up into another royal mess. Our Prime Minister thought that he could have kicked Castro to the back bench, closed his mouth and moved on. But it shouldn't work that way. If Castro was involved in illegalities he needs to face the full force of the law just like anyone of us would have. If Channel 5 continues to dig those things will come out…in fact they're already coming out. Mr. Barrow is looking really bad again. His ego couldn't allow this consistent pummeling and his balls stepped in.
I don't need to fight Channel 5's battles for them…they are perfectly willing and able to deal with Mr. Barrow on any level he chooses. But this is not a good thing. It's not the way to go. The Prime Minister is making a big mistake and setting a bad precedent. Who will be next? Will Mr. Barrow cut all ties with the Reporter or Amandala whenever they report something which makes him look bad? Methinks you should rethink this one, Dean Oliver.
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Source: The Belize Times
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