By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

A VETERAN communications specialist was the guest at the Bahamas Press Club on Friday.

Former Washington Press Club president Marguerite Sullivan was welcomed to the club's first function of the year, facilitated by the United States Embassy as part of its public affairs section’s speakers series.

Club president Anthony Capron expressed his gratitude to the Embassy.

"On behalf of The Bahamas Press Club, I heartily thank the US Embassy for arranging and facilitating the virtual conversation with Marguerite Sullivan,” Mr Capron said.

“Ms Sullivan's breadth and scope of experience in journalism and in the leadership of the National Press Club in Washington, DC, can be of a beneficial resource to The Bahamas Press Club, and we will certainly take advantage of that."

Ms Sullivan currently serves as the senior director of the Centre on International Media Assistance, a think tank on international media and good governance issues.

A seasoned journalist, as former president of the Washington Press Club, now the National Press Club, Ms Sullivan talked about the nuances of running such organisations, offering suggestions on growing club membership and prominence, and struggles the club’s American counterpart has faced.

Ms Sullivan noted the National Press Club is a “multi-faceted” organisation, with its core tenets including freedom of the press, opportunities to cover newsmakers, social events, and providing support.

She also noted the organisation shies away from lobbying but seeks to educate and spread awareness about matters of national and international concern.

Furthermore, Ms Sullivan underscored the National Press Club is “very aggressive” regarding issues tackling freedom of speech and defending the rights of journalists world over.

In October last year, the Bahamas Press Club released a statement crying “shame” on Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest for his criticism of a local journalist from the floor of Parliament, saying the time is “long past” for journalists to be dictated to by politicians in power.

During debate in the House of Assembly earlier that month, Mr Turnquest referred to a “Beyond the Headlines” show that featured former chairman of the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation Alex Storr as a guest. Mr Turnquest criticised the quality of the show, saying “nine out of ten (times) they going on with information that they get off of the black belt press or one of these kind of things, the ghetto news network".

The press club’s statement noted: “The Bahamas Press Club cries shame on Deputy Prime Minister K Peter Turnquest for his unfortunate and unfair marginalisation of ILTV, its news director Clint Watson and the informative programme, Beyond the Headlines."

The statement called for politicians to “listen to the voices of the ordinary people, the people in the ‘black belt,’ the people in the ‘ghetto'," adding Mr Watson is “professional in an honourable and respectable profession".

The statement went on to say: “The time is long past when The Bahamas had just one radio station and one television outlet, which were controlled by the government.

“It is long past the time when the journalists, the editors, and the media house owners were dictated to by the politicians in power and threatened with lawsuits when the news did not favour them.”