Press association renews call for post cabinet press briefings

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Jun. 26, CMC – The Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ), has issued another call for the government to resume post-Cabinet press briefings.
According to PAJ President Dionne Jackson Miller, the Andrew Holness led administration has “decided to ignore our call for these important media engagements to continue.”“We made this call publicly six weeks ago, and followed up with letters to the Information Minister and the Office of the Prime Minister. However, there has been no indication that this is something the administration is taking seriously, or has any intention of resuming any time soon,” Jackson Miller noted in a statement on Tuesday.
The PAJ President  said that there have been no post-Cabinet briefings  since the start of the year – with the last   briefing held in November last year.
Jackson Miller said the recent developments and questions surrounding the government owned oil refinery Petrojam are examples of an important national issue about which the media needs to ask questions, and underlines the importance of these briefings.
“This is a tradition that successive administrations have continued, in the interest of democracy and accountability, and we are extremely disappointed that Prime Minister Andrew Holness seems ok with the current state of affairs,” the PAJ President said.
“Does he plan to be the Prime Minister who killed an effective and time-honoured method of engaging with the press? We hope not, and we call now for him to give his personal attention to this matter,” she added.