September 1 is Press Day in the Dutch Caribbean. The date usually passes relatively unnoticed, although less so in Curaçao and Aruba.
Recent friction between St. Maarten media members and the Council of Ministers will not have escaped readers. Some of this had to do with an intended policy setting what many in the profession considered unwarranted and excessive rules for attending weekly press briefings.
Things have calmed down a bit since, but there will always be tension in that relationship due to its very nature. Government in principle aims to get certain messages out, while what they might not want to reveal is often of greater interest to journalists.
Although some would quickly dismiss the latter by saying bad news sells, there’s much more to it than that. After all, if everything goes well there will be little need to warn for possible negative consequences.
Questioning and exposing what perhaps went wrong is essential not only to hold those responsible accountable, but so such problems can be addressed as well. While elected representatives are supposed to control the public administrators they appoint, an independent and free press is society’s watchdog when it comes to the entire political establishment and others.
To be sure, plenty of so-called “good news” gets published and broadcast too that –understandably – fails to attract the same attention. Nevertheless, a considerable amount of purely informative content is provided almost daily.
Not that local media houses and practitioners are perfect, far from that. They operate under difficult circumstances in a small market with significant limitations regarding advertising revenue, human resources, etc., never mind being severely impacted by the September 2017 hurricanes and COVID-19 crisis.
At the end of the day, journalism and politics are like proverbial Siamese twins. They may approach things from a different perspective, but ultimately cannot do without one another.
Correction
Monday’s editorial mistakenly mentioned plans for a Hard Rock Hotel of Sunwing at the former Great Bay Beach Resort. However, it concerns a Planet Hollywood Hotel. The author apologises for this mental error.
