Editorial for 19 March: The media’s role in elections

We received a news release last week from a candidate vying
for a seat in the Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly that addressed “the role
of the media” during elections, from their point of view.

We won’t name the candidate or the media organisation they
were bashing, but the candidate opined that the media in general “should have a
greater sense of care for informing the wider public during important national
events like our pending elections”.

We should state that the Caymanian Compass was not the media
organisation involved in this round of public flogging, but we would like to go
ahead and put our two cents in: Mr. Candidate, please, give us all a break.

Ever since the first week in March, and to continue through
the end of May, the Caymanian Compass has been running – twice a week no less –
detailed reports on specific election issues in its “Compasspoint” features.
They can be found on the inside of Tuesday’s and Thursday’s newspapers and
online here. This work is in
addition to daily stories on election and public policy-related matters.

To our surprise, the general response from candidates for
election – with a few exceptions – has been rather laconic and nonplussed. Many
have simply not returned phone calls, while others have returned them several
days too late. One reporter sent out a list of questions to all the independent
candidates running for election in George Town more than a week ago. To date,
not one has responded. NOT ONE.

The candidates, at least as far as our stable of
publications go, have practically infinite space to speak on the issues that
matter most anytime they wish. All they have to do is pick up the phone. Just
pick up the phone: How hard could it be?

Now, just because a candidate has a meeting or would rather
talk about something else than the questions put to them does not mean the
media must accept the candidate’s attempt at political spin or even cover a
word they say. But make no mistake, the opportunities – free and numerous – to
comment on political issues or the events of the day are there for all and
sundry.

We’ll see if anyone takes advantage of them.