TRINIDAD-MEDIA-Government moves to repeal criminal libel legislation

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government Wednesday said it would move to amend the existing libel and defamation legislation so as to ensure that journalists were not jailed “for the malicious publication of any defamatory libel.” Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, speaking at a news conference following talks with a delegation from the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI), the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) and the Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA), said she would take a note to Cabinet on Thursday to amend the law. “We will insert a new provision so that no journalist can be criminally charged and prosecuted under section 9 of the Libel and Defamation Act for the malicious publication of any defamatory libel,” she said, adding “this would allow members of the media fraternity to engage in responsible journalism and to tell the story without fear of criminal liability.”