Caribbean

CARIBBEAN Barbados Journalists here continue to enjoy access to public information, no changes have been made to legiSlation governing the press, and there have been no incursions against practitioners. Guyana One privately-owned newspaper, the Stabroek News, and several private television stations operate freely and without censorship or interference. The state still has a monopoly of radio broadcasting. A draft Broadcasting Bill was introduced some time ago which could lead to changes in this situation but the government has so far reSisted pressure to issue licenses for private radio stations. Trinidad & Tobago There has been no further encroachment, either covert or overt, on press freedom in Trinidad & Tobago over the last months. The Green Paper (outline of possible government policy) that journalists charged was a threat to freedom of the press has not been carried into law. However, the media are still watchful. Jamaica Dates for the appeals for the two major libel suits against The Gleaner Company amounting to $650,000 in one case and $2.3 million in the other have been set for October 11 and October 26,1999, respectively. Grenada The editor of Grenada Today, George Worme, was charged with criminal libel for publishing a letter signed with a pseudonym attacking the prime minister and alleging that he bribed people to vote for his party. Worme republished this letter the following week. He was arrested but has been released on bail. A radio journalist, Stanley Charles, who has been charged with sedition for claiming, on the air, that an order had been issued to kill a former minister, voluntarily responded to an arrest warrant. He was released on bail.