by Linda Straker, Curlan Campbell, NOW Grenada
- Shere-Ann Noel heads new MWAG executive
- Media policy review priority for MWAG
- Information Minister welcomes draft media policy news
Shortly after being elected to serve as President of the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG) for the 3rd time on Saturday, 15 December 2018, Shere-Ann Noel stated one of the mandates of the new executive is to reignite the interest of media workers to be a part of the association. The election scheduled for 24 November was postponed to December due to a low turnout of media workers.
Noel who has served in that capacity on 2 occasions said the first order of business must be to increase the membership of the association after a notable decline in numbers has been observed for the past few years. “I have been President of the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG) before for 2 terms and we had members that came out and give their support and voted me along with other members of the executive. However, after the election MWAG members seemed to start to dwindle. We would like to have the same vigour and the same support now that we have a new executive so that we can push forward.”
She has called upon membership to support the new executive as they strive to move the association forward. “I don’t think MWAG should be seen only when there is an issue amongst members, but we should be a grouping of people who are all looking out for the interest of each other.”
Noel said opening discussion on the draft media policy and updating the association’s registry are among priorities for the new executive.
“When I served as President in the previous terms, I tried my utmost to get an update on the media policy. I must say that I was sent around in circles because I was sent to various individuals whom I was told had an idea and was part of previous discussions of the efforts that were not fruitful,” said Noel who served as president from 2013 to 2016 and as treasurer for the period 2016 to 2018.
Noel gave the assurance that she and her new team will work towards reviewing the policy which was shelved in 2012, when then President of MWAG, Rawle Titus, who chaired the Media Policy Committee established by former Minister of State for Information and Culture, Arley Gill, withdrew from the position. “The policy is of priority; we will revisit it and get the discussion going once again,” she said.
Grenada currently has no direct laws to guide media houses on content nor receiving complaints from the public, and these were two of the priority areas in the policy which reached the stage of draft legislation before the committee disintegrated.
The new executive said that it would also be looking to update its registry by recruiting new members and extending an invitation for the more senior media workers to become actively involved in the work of the association. “We will also be looking at restructuring the annual media awards which for 2019 will be held in June as part of media week activities, instead of hosting as an end of year activity,” Noel added.
Information Minister Senator Winston Garraway said that he welcomes the news that new executive will be revisiting the media policy to bring the discussion back on the table. “I am aware of the stage that the initiative had reached and right now there is a lot of institutional knowledge that can contribute to it going forward,” said Garraway. “Such a discussion can only work in the best interest of the media.”
The election on Saturday also saw 2 new members elected to serve on the executive: Gerard Joseph as 2nd Vice President and Tonnia St Louis-Lawrence as Treasurer. Delroy Louison who once served in the capacity as 2nd Vice President was voted in as 1st Vice President, while Rickisha St Louis who previously served as Assistant Secretary, has been appointed Secretary. Asher Andall-Francique is serving as Assistant Secretary.
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