Real Professionalism

Apr 25, 2010 Sports

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By Rawle Welch

In his article dated Friday, April 23, under the caption ‘I am at odds with Mr. Rawle Welch’, Director of Sport Mr. Neil Kumar familiarly attempted to denigrate the writer, who was simply asking ‘Where is the National Sports Policy’ in an April 20 issue.
The Director, who according to him has been in the journalistic profession, was true to form in his response which usually takes the shape of putting down and attempting to smear the name of anyone who he presumes is adopting a hostile stance towards the Ministry or Commission whenever they seek answers to certain questions.
Mr. Kumar questioned whether there was a hidden agenda which motivates persons like the writer to rush to press without communicating with the relevant authority.
Well, I have an example to share with the Director, who I enjoy a cordial relationship with, but who if he wants to be honest knows that getting certain answers to certain questions has proven most difficult in the past to obtain.
Here is that example, I once asked Minister Dr. Frank Anthony to reveal a breakdown of the expenditure of the Ministry for a particular year and he referred me to the then Permanent Secretary (who is no longer there) and his response was why do I need the Government’s figures.
Immediately, you see a particular characteristic and this pattern is not unusual among other officials who feel that even as members of the media you have no right to ask pertinent questions on their governance.
They shelter under the ploy of questioning your journalistic ability and professionalism which on this particular issue is unnecessary and should be seen merely as an attempt to sidetrack the main theme.
The Director went on to say that I am “guilty of cheap, shoddy journalism, using a known technique to pen and publish an unbalanced critique to attract cheap popularity”, adding that I am “purporting that nothing is being done to produce, publish or implement a National Sports Policy”.
What he advocates I am guilty of I will allow the readers to be the judge on this one.
Here is an excerpt from my earlier article, “The Minister added that he anticipated the document will be widely discussed, while they are in the process of effecting changes to strengthen a few areas that were missing previously.
Among those areas were the establishment of a sports accreditation body; the promotion of non-traditional sports; collaboration between the government and sport organisations in bidding to host international sporting events; the establishment of a special fund to facilitate training for elite athletes and the implementation of a long-term athletic development programme.
Since then, we could say that we’ve seen them address a couple of those concerns, but the document is yet to be tabled in Parliament or even surface among the major stakeholders.”
Here I am saying that we have seen them address a couple of those concerns, so how could the Director attempt to mislead the readership by stating that I am purporting that nothing is being done.
Who is telling the truth?
I might not have been exposed to the training and certainly have not been in the journalistic profession as long as the Director, but all I was attempting to do was to get an answer to ‘Where is the National Sports Policy’.
Mr. Kumar could have simply responded in a more professional manner, but instead he took umbrage to the extent that it impaired his qualified judgment.
I might have displayed a little lack of knowledge of the amount of work needed to construct a comprehensive National Sports Policy, but for a senior official with such a vast amount of journalistic experience to speak of hidden agendas and unprofessional behaviour is unfortunate and selfish.
Let me for the readers’ sake illustrate how professionals respond to such queries.
A similar enquiry was made to Minister of Sport of Jamaica Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange and here is part of her response, “Sure it (sports policy framework document) has taken us a little time, some people may display impatience, but for the past two and a half years we have been able to cover a lot more than has been covered in the past. I can assure that it’s going to be ready very soon.
We want to make sure that there is full understanding of what this policy means for all of us, and how we are going to go about implementing some of the programmes noted in the policy, especially in this economic climate.
We are looking to position sports as a tool for economic development and so to promote and build a sports industry that will increase its contribution to the National Gross Domestic Product and the job pool.”
Nowhere did she seek to berate the media, she saw it as a genuine concern and never spoke of agendas and cheap, shoddy journalism.
That is a real professional.

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