The response to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s Leadership Exchange on Thursday night has been overwhelmingly positive, Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG) CEO Ken Ali says.
“Ninety per cent of the feedback has been positive. And I have the evidence,” Ali said yesterday.
He was responding to questions about statements made by People’s National Movement (PNM) public relations officer Faris al Rawi who said the PM’s Leadership Exchange was “public relations gimmickry” and criticised what he said was a staged, closed-door event.
Al Rawi also asked how the interviewers were selected, if they were paid and who determined what questions were asked.
The interviewers were Isha Wells, a former PNM councillor, who wore a distinguishing red beret during the show, political analyst, Derek Ramsamooj and Dr Morgan Job, former government minister, author and talk show host.
Ali said most of the media was invited to the show which aired at 8 pm on CNMG Thursday night. “The door was left open until the start of the show for Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley, in case he decided to turn up.”
He said he selected the panelists and expressed surprise that even Wells was being criticised.
“Isha Wells? A PNM operative?” he asked, incredulously.
Ali also said he did not know what questions the interviewers planned to ask. “I gave them free rein and told them to ask what they felt like asking, without being disrespectful to the Prime Minister.”
“Listen, let the critics talk. I don’t want to join this debate,” he said.
Wells asked the PM a question which she said was asked of Barack Obama before the US presidential elections.
“Do you smoke marijuana?”
The PM replied, “The answer is no.”
However, al Rawi was highly critical of the PM’s Leadership Exchange even though he did not view the programme.
He went on to critique it, nevertheless. He said the public was excluded from the event.
“I am very familiar with the CNMG studio and the main studio is a massive auditorium which could have easily accommodated several hundred people.
“Therefore, it was very conspicuous that no member of the public was permitted entry and the identity of the interviewers remained a closely guarded secret until the event came off.
“Public suspicion that the interview was staged is rife throughout T&T.”
Al Rawi added, “I don’t know what were the terms and conditions of the interviewers. Were they paid? Where did the questions come from?”
Told that previous debates staged by the T&T Debates Commission were not open to the public either and had a selected moderator who asked questions worked out in advance, al Rawi side-stepped a response by referring to a PNM event called “Conversations with Dr Rowley”.
He said the PM’s Leadership Exchange came nowhere close to “Conversations with Dr Rowley”, in which Rowley and a few candidates held outdoor conversations with people which was broadcast online.
CNMG had originally planned a debate between Persad-Bissessar and Rowley. Rowley said he will participate in the debate being organised by the T&T Debates Commission in August, after nomination day on August 17.
The PM has said she will not take part in that event because she was told the debate would have been on July 30.
Wells and Ramsamooj could not be reached for a response.