THE EDITOR: I write in response to your editorial of September 20, 'Lessons in miseducation.'
The Newsday is perfectly free to align itself with the PNM in our democratic country. Indeed, the Opposition UNC, more than any other force, remains at the forefront of continuously defending our State from being engulfed by PNM dictatorship.
However, the Newsday, as a provider of mass-distributed news, must always be careful to stick to the facts and not let its political affections undermine its reporting or opinions. Instead, Newsday is following the tired PNM routine of blaming the Opposition for Government's failures, and distorting the truth while doing so.
Unfortunately, the Newsday in its political zeal has chosen to twist facts as though the editorial were issued straight from Balisier House. This is unfortunate for a newspaper upon which citizens depend for truthful information, even truth about opinions opposite those of its editors and owners.
The Newsday should simply state its disapproval of the Leader of Opposition's opinion with its own arguments and facts. Instead, the Newsday engages in smearing and undermining the Leader of the Opposition. This is reprehensible.
Starting out by attempting to belittle the Opposition Leader's correction of the public record 'squabbling,' Newsday then takes a side swipe at the Leader of Opposition for 'eventually' getting vaccinated.
Worse, however, are the Newsday's deliberate lies about the Opposition's position on vaccination. The Opposition was the first to lay the issue of mass vaccination on the table, while the Government sat on its hands waiting for the Covax facility and the African Medical Supplies Platform, complaining about 'vaccine apartheid,' while our Caricom neighbours had already successfully secured vaccines in January, before we got a single dose.
The Opposition Leader was roundly criticised for aggressively advocating swift vaccine procurement. She even wrote (to) the Prime Minister of India directly for a donation, amidst much criticism which eventually arrived and started the ball rolling, and the Government to finally act.
Indeed, instead of supporting the Leader of the Opposition, the Newsday editors criticised any attempt to secure vaccine donations from India because of their political opposition to the current Indian government. And Newsday now wants to pontificate about politicising the vaccination issue!
The facts remain wholly at odds with Newsday's PNM-friendly spin. UNC MPs, in fact, are the only ones who are actively promoting vaccination. PNM MPs are invisible or silent on the matter, and never bothered by the Newsday for it. Indeed, given what little we know about the demographics of vaccine hesitancy, it appears that many in PNM constituencies are in dire need of vaccine education.
Notably, as far back as February, a UWI study statistically showed that 62 per cent of the TT population was unwilling to take any covid19 vaccination, and it made a series of recommendations to the Government on what it should do about t
