KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) has described as alarming the action of attorney Milton Samuda in confiscating journalists’ equipment after an interview with Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson earlier this week.
The PAJ, in a statement Thursday, argued that except for threat to life or a Court Order, journalists should under no circumstances hand over notes or recordings to parties outside of their professional supervision.According to the PAJ video recordings of two journalists were seized by Samuda on Tuesday July 23 after an interview with the athletes. The interview was granted in light of positive tests for the banned substance ‘Oxilofrine’ on the part of both athletes and the subsequent controversy involving their trainer. Samuda is the attorney-at-law for Powell and Simpson.“During the interview when certain questions were raised about the supplements — the number of supplements they were taking before Christopher Xuereb was hired and how many they were taking after, as well as what they knew about the substance Oxilofrine, Samuda intervened and objected to those questions indicating that they had not previously agreed to answering those queries,” the PAJ statement said.“Mr Samuda then demanded both video recordings, and these were handed over.” The PAJ said the tapes were returned a day later with the interview erased and an edited version substituted.“We call on Mr Samuda to clearly state his position in what appears to be a conflict of interest in this matter. As guardians of freedom of expression and democracy this compromise of journalistic integrity cannot be tolerated,” the PAJ insisted.Samuda is also chairman of TVJ and Director of Radio Jamaica.“The commitment of journalists is to the public and we must use every opportunity to ask important questions without fear or favour. The information relayed must stand up to professional scrutiny.“It is our responsibility to ensure that information presented to the public is without bias and meets the standard of fairness and balance and in this case we cannot truly vouch that the information coming out of the edited interview met this criteria,” the PAJ said.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserverHOUSE RULES
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PAJ chides Asafa"s attorney for seizing journalists’ equipment
