President of the T&T Publishers and Broadcasters Association, Daren Lee Sing, has put industry practitioners on alert citing possible threats to press freedom, based on proposed legislation contained in the new Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Amendment Bill.
Delivering remarks at Tuesday’s World Press Freedom Day dinner and awards ceremony at the Jaffa Restaurant, Queen’s Park Oval, Tragarette Road, Port-of-Spain, he said:
“While sitting in our journalism workshop, my mobile phone was bombarded with calls and texts not to discuss today’s World Press Freedom Day but instead to ask for comments on the latest bill, the SSA Amendment Bill, which seems to have now included cybercrimes as serious crimes and tenets of the now defunct Cybercrime Bill.”
Lee Sing added: “But while we support the theoretical purpose of the bill, its subjectivity can and may infringe on press freedom.
“So on behalf of all of us, the artists painting this Trinbago media landscape, I am appealing to our line minister and former colleague in media, Minister (Maxie) Cuffie.
“There needs to be consultation on this matter and we will be ready to hold discussions with the Government and the Parliament as this bill progresses and before it is brought to life.”
He said press freedom was a right the local industry could not take for granted, citing that around the world this year’s observance was marked by a series of unsettling events. He said in Egypt, the interior minister marked World Press Freedom Day by storming press syndicates, while there was a whatsapp blackout in Brazil.
Meanwhile, in Syria, a Kurdish radio station in Rojava continued to broadcast, while under attack, he added.