Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/722/-1/132/
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14 Newspapers In Eastern Press Council
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Fourteen newspapers in the Eastern Caribbean have signed on as members of the Eastern Caribbean Press Council (ECPC) at its official inauguration in St. Lucia at the weekend.
At the historic launching ceremony, at which Prime Minister Kenny Anthony hailed the independent, self-regulating body as "a giant step to
shape ethical standards", representatives from various media enterprises in the subregion signed the Charter of the ECPC.
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Third from left: Miss Bernice Lake, QC of Anguilla, a Council Member
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Signatories to the Charter, indicating their pledge to uphold the Code of Professional Practice, were on behalf of newspapers in Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia and St.Kitts and Nevis. The member publications are: Antigua Sun, The Anguillian, Advocate and Nation (Barbados); Chronicle and Sun (Dominica); Informer, Grenadian Voice and Grenada Today (Grenada); Montserrat Reporter; Mirror and Voice (St. Lucia) and Searchlight (St.Vincent).
Three other newspapers have also indicated their interest to be part of
the ECPC's mission to foster and maintain ethical standards in regional journalism.
Since the demise some 13 years ago of the first region-wide Caribbean Press Council (CPC), the launch of the ECPC marks the most significant initiative to have a regional mechanism in place to help both the media and the public in ensuring freedom of the press and freedom of expression based on established ethical standards.
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The Head Table at the launching ceremony. Fourth from left - St. Lucia's Prime Minister Kenny Anthony who gave the keynote address
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The seven-member ECPC is chaired by recently retired High Court Judge of Barbados, Jamaica-born Lady Marie Simmons, and includes: Bernice Lake, Queen's Counsel of Anguilla as the Leeward Islands representative; Monsignor Patrick Anthony of St. Lucia as Windward Islands representative; educator Ann Hewitt as Barbados representative; Kendoll Morgan, St.Vincent-born Communications Officer of the Secretariat of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States as its representative; Harold
Hoyte, President and Editor-in-Chief of the Nation newspapers as publishers representative, and Guyana-born Caribbean journalist Rickey Singh as
journalists representative.
Supporting the ECPC, of which Trinidad-born journalist Ainsley Sahai is Executive Officer, is a three-member Management Committee chaired by Harold Hoyte and including Rickey Singh and Leslie Pierre, Managing Editor of the Grenadian Voice.
As part of its education/training programmes, the ECPC will shortly be printing for distribution to media houses its approved Code of Professional Practice for Caribbean Journalists and will maintain a working relationship
with the Commonwealth Press Council (CPC). The Media Complaints Council of Trinidad and Tobago, currently the only
national body of its kind within the Caribbean Community, sent its "best wishes" for the launching ceremony of the ECPC.
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ECPC Chairman Lady Marie Simmons
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In her remarks, Lady Simmons applauded the "vision and commitment" that
led to the formation of the ECPC which she views as a demonstration of the "desire and willingness" on the part of the owners and managers of the subregion's print media to
ensure ethical principles in the practice of responsible journalism.
In applauding, "without reservation", the inauguration of the ECPC, Prime Minister Anthony, who is also St. Lucia's Minister of Information, urged that in time it will be broadened to embrace the electronic media of radio and
television.
He said that when defined ethical practices are adhered to "everyone benefits-owners or publishers, practitioners of the journalism profession, consumers of information…” The Code of Practice, he added, "induces a sense
of comfort, if not security, for benchmarks exist to measure infractions and standards..."