Dead blog, dead organisation?
The Barbados Association of Journalists last revived from the dead in January of 2009 in response to the repeated harassment and arrests of professional journalists by the Barbados Police.
At that time there seemed to be interest among Bajan print and broadcast journalists in once again having a unified voice to address local concerns in their profession. Yes, everybody belongs to various Caribbean and international press organisations, but that’s not the same as having strong and credible representation on the home turf.
The Barbados Association of Journalists blog went up at WordPress on January 12, 2009 the day after a meeting where the “revived” organisation met and set an agenda with interim president Amanda Lynch-Foster at the helm.
A few weeks later, the Barbados Association of Journalists responded to notices by the Labour Department that freelance journalists would have to register and pay a $550 fee, saying…
“Enforcing such a requirement would put Barbados in the unenviable company of the few other countries that require or have attempted to require journalists to register in order to practice their craft – such countries include Zimbabwe and apartheid-era South Africa.”
February, March, April and June, 2009 saw meeting notices posted on the blog, and in August of 2009 the BAJ responded to the threats made by the Prime Minister’s political advisor, Hartley Henry, against Sunday Sun Editor Carol Martindale. (Barbados Free Press covered that disgusting situation in our article Barbados Advocate ‘Yellow Journalism’ Editorial Ignores the Truth: Hartley Henry carried out his threat at Barbados Underground)
And that was it for the BAJ and their blog for the next 12 months.
After a year of no activity, two posts went up at the BAJ blog in August of 2010, but nothing has been seen or heard since then.
It is difficult for an organisation to maintain credibility and impact if it only raises its head once a year with a blog post and no other activity.
Perhaps there is no need for a Bajan organisation of journalists. Perhaps that is the true message being delivered by professional Bajan journalists themselves.
Maybe professional journalists are thinking that the blogs and the internet will always be there to defend them anyway when incidents happen.
That, my friends, could be closer to the truth than many professional journalists would like to acknowledge.
Barbados Free Press 
You are right on the money BFP.
When the police arrest or rough up a “journalist” it will rise again like Lazarus from the grave.
Barbados Association of Journalists reminds me of BANGO Barbados Association of Nongovernmental Organisations. Both have websites that haven’t been updated in years and an organisation that is really a vehicle for one or two people to have their say when they get around to it. I’m not saying they don’t have a right, I’m saying that the pretence of being something more than they are takes away from their credibility.
What journalists belong to BAJ? Do they pay dues?
What NGOs belong to BANGO? How many? Do they pay dues?
BAJ is one person and a blog. They had a couple of meetings but the interest was not sustained. Government and police look at BAJ and say “not important”.
My opinion. Take it or leave it, but it’s only my opinion and that is the fact.
B.A.J. Barbados association of journalists ,or is it Blowhards And Jokers ? Most of them are conflicted between a love for the profession and a loyalty to party. It is for that reason that views take precedence over news in the papers we read.
The electronic side has its faults as well, for how can we forget that minister Lynch was permitted to set the conditions under which he would sit and tell the nation about C.W.C. This was done all to the exclusion of whom ? A journalist. Where were the others while David Ellis twisted in the wind for daring to make a legitimate query ?
What was the response to the man-handling of a female journalist by the police? None. This same group sought the assistance of every news agency all in the name of freedom of the press, all because of one phone call.
Blowhards And Jokers or Barbados Association of journalists? Your choice.
Wanna aint know nothing about the BAJ, all this talk is just labrish