Today the media - most of us at least - staged a boycott of a press conference at the KHMH.
The event was held to present and discuss the Special Audit Report of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (April 2010 - December 2011).
It is an issue of great public interest - after whistleblower and former stores clerk Delroy Herrera sounded the alarm late last year about irregularities at the KHMH.
But, despite requests, the KHMH management refused to provide the media with an advance copy of the Audit. They wanted us to show up - and then receive the 92 page document - and then try to cram it all in, as the administrators were explaining everything that they didn't like about the audit.
Around these parts, we call that a media ambush - and we would have no part of it, particularly in discussing a public document which was forced into being - in the first place - by media pressure.
And so, Channel 7 led a boycott of the event - and most of our colleagues supported us, holding the position that for the media to provide informed commentary and ask the right questions we had to be prepared: there's no way we could grasp a 94 page document during a press conference.
But, boycott or not, the KHMH would not relent from its hardline stand - that is until the Prime Minister got wind of it during his appearance on the KREM W-U-B morning show. Right after the show, he called the KHMH to tell them to release the audit. That was at 9:30 am. Still, when he met the media outside of KREM TV at 10:15, that document still hadn't been sent!
So he had to call again to tell them to send it. They did so at 10:18 (notably to all media houses except this one) - but with all the media practitioners in motion, already out on their daily assignments - it was too late to review the document - and so the boycott stood - even though they still had to end up sending out the document anyway.
The press conference was held at 11:00 am and only LOVE FM and the Guardian Newspaper showed up.
For the KHMH administration, it's insult added to injury, and when asked about the public policy mis-step, today the PM was careful not to come down on them too hard.
Here's what he told us:
Jules Vasquez
"Sir, are you able to agree with the media in principle that the KHMH audit should have been released in advance of a press conference?"
Prime Minister Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"Now, why will you put me on the spot like that?"
Jules Vasquez
"No, but you have made a public commitment to transparency."
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"See, but you are getting it. Now, transparency - obviously, it's a matter of degree. It seems to be a little bit elastic. But, you are getting it, and I won't judge KHMH. I will say that I regret that we had this sort of situation. I hope now that it's been sorted out, and that in the future, there won't be a replication of this sort of an incident."
