Aurora Herrera
In the Commonwealth Caribbean, the field of media and entertainment law is not as developed as it is in the US or the UK. Of course, the industry evolves on the basis of the needs and demographics of the population in each location. For example, the US has a thriving celebrity culture which burgeons its economy. Celebrities have reputations as well as their privacy to protect, so this type of law is utilised extensively. While the Caribbean is not known to be a litigious region with regard to celebrities, journalists are consistently called out by politicians with accusations of libel, and have become vulnerable to vague and costly clauses in cybercrime and data-protection legislation.
This is why the book Newsroom Law: A Legal Guide for Commonwealth Caribbean Journalists, by TT judge Justice Kathy Ann Waterman-Latchoo, comes at a crucial point. The text covers these legal issues in great detail, with case histories and examples to create useful context for the reader.
“After I qualified as an attorney-at-law – and I never stopped reading and researching media law,” Waterman-Latchoo said, “I came to understand that an understanding and an appreciation of the law would really enhance journalists’ ability to do what they do.
“I would like to tell journalists that the law actually loves you. because you are a manifestation of that constitutionally guaranteed right called freedom of expression and specifically in TT, freedom of the press.”
As a foundation for the newcomer, Newsroom Law explains how the courts work and also expounds on the right which underpins the entire journalism industry: the right to freedom of expression. Waterman-Latchoo writes that freedom of expression “is a barometer of a healthy democracy; a safety valve for social dissent; a checkpoint for independence; and a brake on government power, interface and abuse.”
The 270-page text is the first of its kind. Never before has a text about Commonwealth media law been written for journalists. Newsroom Law includes relevant and timely precedents and cases all media personnel can reflect on and learn from. In my own doctoral research, I found that in local newsroom culture, mainly editors and court reporters have a true grasp of these laws, while other journalists in the newsroom rely on their managers to safeguard against anything litigious.
The text also discusses the need to analyse and amend certain clauses in legislation like cybercrime and data-protection laws, as they lack exemption clauses for journalists, which compromises their ability to work without fear or interference. Waterman-Latchoo said that Caribbean territories such as the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and TT have passed a Data Protection Act “which prohibits obtaining, keeping, processing and disclosing personal information or date.”
However, there is a major issue with the enforcement of this act for journalists.
“The main difficulty with the legislation in TT and the Bahamas is that is contains no exemptions for journalists legitimately going about
