The Tribune

WHEN Dr Hubert A Minnis, the novice prime minister, appointed a press secretary, the news was met with a strong positive reaction from media. Reporters who had been following Dr Minnis during the campaign knew he was a lone wolf, cunning but better alone than in a crowd. Young reporters and veterans alike also knew the dearth of information coming from the leader of the country had caused a problem for every administration and predicted it would be even worse under this government given the leader was, at the core, a medical professional who would rather prescribe than converse.

Here was a prime minister who was swept into power with a moral compass set to a fixed destination - rid the country of corruption and cronyism.

But he was not really a people person in stark contrast to all three previous Prime Ministers Lynden Pindling, Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie who, despite disparate politics, shared one common trait - they loved a crowd. They knew how to work it and milk it as well as a farmer knows how to get a cow to produce. They were masters at their political trade.

So when flesh-pumping reticent Dr Hubert Minnis took office and announced he would appoint ZNS-TV newscaster Anthony “Ace” Newbold as Press Secretary, there was a belief Mr. Newbold would honour journalists’ requests for information. He was, after all, also President of the Bahamas Press Club and had recently been appointed vice-president of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Press Clubs Federation which the Press Club made sure had a lot of coverage.

With a media population far larger than a country with such a small population would appear to command, competition is fierce and the thirst for news is never satiated. There was a widespread feeling among journalists in print, radio, TV and social media that at last they had someone to turn to get the latest when you needed information pertaining to the Bahamian equivalent of 10 Downing Street or the Oval Office.

But what started out with such promise has slipped into an unmitigated disjointed disaster. Initially, the plan called for a regularly scheduled meeting with the Press Secretary every Tuesday at 2:30 pm. Since the end of January through this past Tuesday, March 13, seven scheduled press briefings were scheduled. All but two have been cancelled, most with little notice.

The pattern is unmistakable and undeniable. Without fail, every cancelled press briefing was during a week when the administration was embroiled in controversial issues. When headlines shouted trouble, the Press Secretary was nowhere to be found.

We do not know whether the failure to meet the press five times out of seven was his call or the Prime Minister’s. We do know it was the wrong call and only served to further distance the media from the administration and create a wedge where the trust could have been built.

We traced the downturn of a good idea gone bad from mid-November when the Press Secretary presided over a press conference, smiling, proud to announce the creation of a Deliverables Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister. By mid-January, as immigration abuses surfaced, beginning with the detention and mysterious disappearance of Bahamian-born Jean-Romy Jean Charles and proper enforcement seemed to take a back seat to corruption, the press secretary’s tone changed. Instead of dealing with the issues head-on, Mr Newbold told the press to “just stay tuned”.

By late January, there was a cornucopia of trouble – dump on fire again, shortage of beds at Princess Margaret Hospital, and the outrageous behaviour of the Speaker of the House who berated the wife of the Leader of the Official Opposition for her birthplace.

The answer to all that hot news: cancel the press briefing. The following week more than 100 residents of Jubilee Gardens filed a class action suit claiming they were “sickened to near death” by the toxic fumes of the burning landfill. Again, answer: cancel the press briefing.

By February 13, Jean-Romy Jean Charles was again in the headlines and again the answer: cancel the press briefing.

February 20 followed a slower news week and the press briefing went on as planned.

February 27, a different story, headlines revealed a dark secret that had been circulating for years, “Pay $3000 and you can go free.” For the first time a price on freedom was public. The answer: cancel the press briefing.

Now with the $5.5bn Oban Energies deal to build a crude oil refinery, storage and distribution facility in Grand Bahama arousing so much opposition it is hard to see any way it can proceed - despite government’s insistence that it will no matter what the public says - this Tuesday’s press briefing was again cancelled.

Mr Newbold has attempted to explain away his absences by saying he is only authorised to talk to reporters when specifically directed by the Prime Minister and on decisions made by Cabinet.

If that’s the case, then both he and Dr Minnis would do well to widen the brief - and quickly.

This government needs to put itself centre stage in all debates.

Governing should be seen exactly like the campaign trail. What’s the message we want to get across today, agree the position and articulate it.

In this way, the government can to some degree set the agenda, feeding a media hungry for news to fill newspaper columns, radio and air time.

When the Press is left to fend for itself, they go hunting for stories. Just look what happened with Oban when Newbold and Dr Minnis adopted the ostrich position - journalists, for want of any government statement, just kept digging into Oban’s background and we all now know what they found.

Mr Press Secretary, you were not appointed to grin and be the bearer of good news only. Your job is not to feed serious media looking for answers a Hallmark card decorated with pretty flowers. Whatever the news, it is your task and your responsibility to deal with it honestly and not duck it lest you risk reducing the value of the post and earning the name Press Secretary of Ducking.