Jason “JW” Williams came under fire on the United National Congress (UNC) virtual platform on Monday night as the role of the media and his ability to be impartial were brought into question.
JW is the new host of the CNC3 Morning Brew talk show, a radio personality and entertainer, and also a former People’s National Movement (PNM) senator who contested and lost the San Juan/Barataria seat in 2020 to the UNC’s Saddam Hosein.
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she was shocked to see him hosting the programme and used the opportunity to remind the media of its role in preventing the country from being ruled by dictators and in protecting the Treasury.
From the United National Congress (UNC) Virtual Report platform on Monday night. Persad-Bissessar noted that the role of the media, like that of the Opposition, is to hold the Government to account.
“I was shocked to see that in one of our leading media houses, their flagship morning show is now being hosted by a failed 2020 general election PNM candidate and former senator.
“How is this person expected to hold the Government to account? How is he going to ask the hard questions? How is he going to provide cover for this band of thieves led by a wannabe dictator?” she asked.
She said in a country with a vast storehouse of talent, “It’s amazing that this leading media house can only find PNM candidates and outright lobbyists to host their programmes. This is a danger to democracy and the Treasury and the people of TT.”
She said while some people may not like her speaking about it, is a very important issue.
“The media is the facilitator of democracy. Therefore why are you using failed PNM candidates, failed PNM senators, to host your programme?"
Giving the programme itself the thumbs-up, she said it is one of the shows where both the Government and the Opposition can be put to task to answer the hard questions – but with a host who has partisan interest, she argued, “Nothing good can come out of it.”
She referred to the decision to proclaim one section of the Data Protection Act, Legal Notice 220 of 2021, dated August 20 and signed by acting President Christine Kangaloo as an incident in which one of the rights of citizens was truncated without the media asking questions.
Section 42 of this act, she explained, gives power to public bodies such as ministries, Cabinet, Parliament and other public bodies to share the personal information of citizens with each other.
This can be information such as: age, religion, marital status, employment record, medical records, financial transactions, address and telephone contact and confidential letters.
She said Government must give a reason why, when the country is under a state of emergency (SoE),it has come like a thief in the night to proclaim this single section
She called on Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi “to tell us why, in the height of this pandemic, when so many rights are being trampled, do you see it fit to cherrypick this one section out of the Data Protection Act to have it procl
