Sunday, July 26 2009

THE Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) yesterday held a general membership meeting to highlight the activities of the organisation over the recent months and also to address the concerns of journalists and photographers.

Amongst plans for the future is a meeting with Prime Minister Patrick Manning next Tuesday. The PM recently criticised the media for failing to do its work or educating and informing the public.

MATT President Marlon Hopkinson explained that the organisation is striving to strengthen its effectiveness through its membership.

He indicated that MATT is in a critical phase of its existence, “The time has come where members of the media, members of MATT, must decide whether they want MATT to continue in this vein that we are currently operating.”

The idea, he said, is to transform MATT from an association into an active organisation that serves to professionalise the work of members of the media and protect its members when the need arises.

Hopkinson stated, “I think that over the years MATT has been seen as a body to issue press releases when a member of the media is attacked and so on.

However, what we have strived to do is to be action oriented.

At the end of the day, there needs to be a professional and responsible body to represent media workers.” He added that MATT has embarked on a training and educational initiative which will host expertise workshops to benefit its members, “We felt it was time to give the members something back.”

Minister of National Security Martin Joseph was also carded to deliver an address at the MATT meeting, but was unable to attend. Public Relations Officer for the Ministry, Irene Medina, announced that the Minister’s presence was required at an emergency meeting regarding issues of the Mercy Committee. The Mercy Committee meets on Tuesday to discuss the case of Ronald Tiwarie.