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PAJ Alarmed at Reports of Threats to Journalist, Calls for Priority Investigation

Photo from: www.jamaicaobserver.com
Photo from: www.jamaicaobserver.com

 

Senior International Correspondent for Vision Newspaper Canada congratulated by Jamaica PM Andrew Holness
Senior International Correspondent for Vision Newspaper Canada congratulated by Jamaica PM Andrew Holness

The Press Association of Jamaica is alarmed at reports that Nationwide reporter Abka Fitz-Henley has been forced to take security precautions after receiving death threats.

The right to freedom of expression, and by extension freedom of the press, is paramount to any democratic society, and threats to journalists are a common method by which subversive elements in any society try to undermine that right.

Jamaica has a proud tradition of press freedom, and incidents like this put that tradition at risk.

“Abka and Nationwide have our full support at this time,” says President of the PAJ Dionne Jackson Miller.

“We understand that the police have been dealing with this matter. We commend their action, and urge them to make this investigation a priority, as it goes to the very foundation of our ability to say that Jamaica is a democratic society.

“We cannot overstate the harm that can be done by this type of attempt to intimidate. Apart from the personal threat to Abka, which is despicable in itself, this is a threat to Jamaica’s democratic traditions. Journalists carry out their duties on behalf of, and for the benefit of people of Jamaica, and an attack on any journalist is therefore an attack on the people themselves,” she says.

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