Vernon Daley

Portia Simpson Miller, last week, went off the deep end and accused elements in the media of being biased against her party in their election coverage. This is a very disappointing and worrying thing.

Surley, the Prime Minister must know that making those remarks from a political platform, in a charged environment, can rile up party supporters and endanger media people on the ground. The Prime Minister, I'm sure, did not intend that but her comments could have easily produced those consequences.

In our volatile society, the political platform is not the appropriate place to voice a grievance with the media about election coverage.

Of course, this practice of politicians beating up on the press at election time is not new, but it can't be unreasonable for us to expect our leaders to mature over time and discard the kind of politics that promotes anger and violence.

I hate to quote myself but I dealt with this whole business on March 13 this year in my column titled 'In praise of fallen journalists'. I wrote then:

"In Jamaica, journalists become especially vulnerable in the election season. During the madness, politicians tend to squeal when they think the press has published or broadcast something which diminishes their prospects of electoral victory.

"In that environment, the media man or woman on the ground, covering the beat, can often get caught in the 'crossfire'.

"Reckless leaders have been known to use the political platform to lash the media, unwittingly (and perhaps otherwise) prompting their supporters to threaten the life and limb of reporters covering political events. Hopefully, wayward conduct of the kind will have no place in the upcoming polls here."

Dashed my hope

Needless to say, the Prime Minister dashed my hope that this election season would have been marked by sober thinking and conduct by our political leaders.

I'm glad some people in the media are treating the matter with the gravitas it deserves. I heard vice president of the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ), Byron Buckley, saying last week that the PAJ would be writing to the People's National Party on the matter.

I think it would also be a good idea for the PAJ to seek a meeting with the leaders of the major political parties and use the opportunity to tell them that the kind of tone set by the Prime Minister can't be allowed to define the election period. We shouldn't wait until a media practitioner is hurt before dealing with this.

Health bill

There were reports last week that many of the Cabinet ministers in Trinidad have recently taken on lifestyle changes, which include exercise, diet and abstinence from alcohol and meat. The Trinidad taxpayers must be glad to hear this.

Since 2002 that country has spent some TT$2.2 million (US$352,960) on overseas health services for politicians and other public officials. It's said that many of their illnesses were lifestyle-related and very much avoidable.

The protruding gut might be a telltale sign of comfort and wealth among leaders, but often, it also signals a health disaster waiting to happen.

Many of those who have gone abroad for treatment over a period of time, have been suffering from heart trouble. In fact, this is the affliction shared by the current prime minister, Patrick Manning and the two previous prime ministers - Basdeo Panday and ANR Robinson.

It's going to be interesting, though, to see how long the politicians can stay off the meat and booze, especially with an election campaign around the corner.