On May 3 every year, the United Nations invites members of the media and other interested groups to observe World Press Freedom Day. This year, the theme is "The Media and Governance".

World Press Freedom Day is an opportunity to remind the world of the importance of protecting the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and freedom of the press, as stated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Without these rights, democracy cannot prevail and development remains unattainable.

World Press Freedom Day serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom - a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.

Here in Grenada, the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG) recognizes the tremendous strides made by a number of outstanding journalists including the late Alister Hughes. However, our greatest challenge is the self-censorship by some media houses, particularly in the electronic media.

Many are still limiting themselves to press releases and not a passion for investigative reports and research. It is compounded by the fact that some media entities are not prepared to allow their journalists to be dynamic because of the fear of State reprisal. There is also the constant fear of threats of libel and lawsuits from politicians. It's clearly a means of intimidating our journalists, editors and even the clergy. For example in the last five years we have had about a dozen lawsuits filed against the media.

On the other hand, we have seen some positives. The most recent was the stance taken by journalists last year even though there were threats to use the full force of the law if journalists continue to pursue allegations that the Prime Minister received money in a briefcase.

MWAG has also noted that more and more young people have joined the media which underscores the urgency for more training. We hope that this will result in a positive reflection of the media in the future.