And so where does it go from there? In his post, Wiliams says, quote, "It is also only right that the author of this erroneous post be brought in an interviewed regarding the narco plane they allege landed."
Well, Jules did do an interview today - but with Cherisse Halsall. He's calling the COMPOL's counter narrative insidious, and while he freely admits that information of a plane having landed was erroneous, he says that human error acting on the same information police had, is no excuse to attempt to muzzle the media.
Here's more:
Jules Vasquez, News Director, Channel 7
"I went to the police training academy and you can see on the video the engagement between me and the COMPOL was as it always is playful, teasing, cordial and our exchange in the interview was sharp but certainly not unmannerly but I think he's perpetrating a very insidious narrative in so far as he refuses to accept the fact that both of us had defective information and both of us acted on it."
Cherisse Halsall:
"But he is saying that he only acted on your information?"
Jules Vasquez, News Director, Channel 7
"And that is what is so insidious and what amazes me is how effortlessly he tries to pawn off such a bare-faced lie. So he's trying to switch it around to put the culpability, falsely, on me. So they had their own information, I got that information and when I saw that three persons were detained, we posted it. We were wrong we got it wrong this happens in the life of news organizations but we weren't acting on invented information."
"The same commissioner said nothing last week when two media houses, quite prominent, both reported a man dead who was still alive. We actually had credible reports which the police had."
Cherisse Halsall:
"But now after the COMPOL's post it looks to the public that channel 7 is in a lot of hot water and you are about to be charged for misinformation."
Jules Vasquez, News Director, Channel 7
"I think that it's just an empty threat and that is what makes it so sinister."
Cherisse Halsall:
"But is it okay for the COMPOL to be making empty threats that he has no interest in pursuing?"
Jules Vasquez, News Director, Channel 7
"You see he loves the theatrical nature of a hot post that everybody will jump at and multiple media houses will carry he likes that, that engorges his narcissism."
"In every democracy there has to be tension between the authorities and the press, and yes sometimes the press will get it wrong, sometimes the police will get it wrong. It's a human system but you cannot say oh you got it wrong we will charge you. It's really a dangerous thing to start throwing around."
"And that's what's the most concerning thing is that he uses these empty threats as a way to try and discipline the media publicly when he knows that this is not something that you can take to court and even if you try to it's sinister in the extreme."
"It's the most extreme threat he's made yet because he's always threatening media houses but the most extreme threat he has made yet with charging and questioning has been made to channel 7 effects have causes and it has to be watched."
