Where Is The Journalism?

The recent firing of the Governor of the Bank of Jamaica has some people concerned due to the reporting, or lack thereof in the national media. The Prime Minister of Jamaica, in seeking to establish that the remuneration of the Governor was too high, compared the base salary of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, to the compensation package of the BOJ Governor.

This however is an apples to oranges comparison and the two base salaries should have been compared, leading to an inconvenient truth that J$14.5 million is less than J$17 million confirming that the BOJ Governor’s salary is in fact LESS than Bernanke. Where are the journalists pointing out this fact to the public?

Another indication of the lack of quality investigative journalism relates to the fact that the PNP pointed out that contrary to the statements, inside Parliament of course, that the Governor’s contract was special and never seen before, the contract was the same as what was offered to past Governors dating back to the 1980′s, hence why it was never brought to cabinet.

Is this true? No journalist has yet confirmed or rubbished this story.

It is also damning that the press carried statements by politicians that the S&P downgrade was unwarranted without giving context and pointing out the massive revenue shortfalls experienced by the Government in September and for the year to date. These revenue shortfalls mean that the country either has to increase taxes/collections, borrow more money or cut costs (people and programmes) and the S&P took all of this into consideration, along with the firing of the Governor who was the lead negotiator with the IMF.

The Jamaican media seems to be lacking quality journalism and that should be a concern for all Jamaicans, on and off-island.