updated: Wednesday, March 2nd. 2022 – 10.07am
An incident at the CARICOM Meeting of the ‘Heads of Government’ has caused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a rebuttal to claims made by Channel 7.
According to the statements by the Ministry, “there are areas that media are allowed to access for coverage and news reporting and areas they are not allowed to enter; and
(a) On several occasion the news reporter violated the media-rules of the high-level ‘Intersessional Meeting of Heads of Government’ of the CARICOM meeting and
(b) The reporter claimed to have been given special permission to restricted area, which she was not given. The following is the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and segments from Channel 7s. claims.
MoFA Statement (PDF Doc)
A statement from Channel 7 said
At the directive of the Director of the Press Office Mike Rudon – converge on 7News reporter Cherisse Halsall to stop her from doing a stand-up. As the police move to wrest her phone out of her hand – the Prime Minister’s Wife Rossana Briceno can be heard to shout “Ey, ey don’t touch her!” to police who proceeded to eject Channel 7 camera man, James Ayala. Channel 7’s News Director Jules Vasquez has called it “a flagrant and foul muzzling of the free press; it offends every principle of good governance and fair play.”