The Editor,

It has been obvious to me for sometime that a particular daily newspaper has adopted a biased and highly unprofessional attitude towards the Trinidad Cricket Board. This newspaper constantly prints the views and accusations of people associated with the previous administration of the Board, and apparently does not seek to get the counter views of the people being attacked. Some of the articles in this newspaper remind me of the bad old days of weekly rags and their one-sided 'journalism'.

Just yesterday, for example, an article appeared in which a current official of the Board was featured, and I presume he was speaking in an unofficial capacity. This person accused the CEO (not by name) of the Cricket Board of lying about approaching the West Indies Cricket Board to lobby for Trinidad's inclusion in the 20/20 Champion's Trophy. In addition, the article said so many wonderful things about the person making this accusation that it could easily have been written by a high powered PR firm, and certainly not by an objective "journalist". There was no mention in the article of having tried to contact the CEO to get his side of the story, which one would think to be the fair thing to do. Furthermore, I saw today in another daily that the CEO of the Board put out a press release denying the accusation and explaining exactly how the request to lobby for inclusion was made and by whom. Of course the daily in which the original accusation appeared did not print that press release, at least not today. This newspaper is obviously not interested in a fair, objective position. Go through the sports pages of this newspaper over the last six months and look at their reporting of the Cricket Board, and look at the 'PR pieces' presented by the so-called "sports editor"...this is a national disgrace and I intend to forward this complaint to the Media Complaints Council if it still exists.

I have no problem with criticism nor even with well founded accusations, once they are treated in a professional manner and that the accusee is allowed equal time. What is transpiring is this newspaper is a discredit to everyone, and perhaps reminds a lot of people interested in cricket of a previous time and of a particular way of doing things.

I am now refusing to read this rag and I would encourage anyone interested in objective reporting to do the same.

Yours Sincerely,
David Hyatali
Woodbrook