What do you all think of the dismissal of journalist Fazeer Mohammed from State-owned media network Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG)? The company said it was due to budget issues however, he seems to be the ONLY person fired after an argument on the morning show First Up last Thursday with a Cabinet Minister about Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar being in a leadership position.
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This made headline news on TV6 and they showed the clip with the interview. You can see the Minister try to turn around and question Fazeer's religious beliefs and I thought that was of poor taste. Fazeer Mohammed was making a point about the PM's poor tact during the recent devastation to some islands by Tomas covered here: Source 3 and the Minister obviously could not effectively counter the debate so tried to focus on low blows instead. I hope TV6 hires him, he is one of the best media personalities we have.
I was surprised that Fazeer actually answered the question since what the Minister did was to avoid the question completely by asking HIM a question. I thought Fazeer would have caught that quickly and not participate in the charade by answering him.
I agree, I hope TV6 hires him. I think he is very talented.
What Fazeer tried to do was point out that his religious belief has nothing to do with him questioning the actions of a female PM. I think Fazeer was just being diplomatic and was seeking to educational answer to an otherwise vindictive question.
I agree but he was the show host and not the other way around.
As a journalist I can tell you that I am the one who is supposed to be in total control of the interview, when you allow your guest to do what this Minister did then you lose control of the whole interview. Maybe Fazeer tried to be polite but it seems more to me that he fall flat into the trap that the Minister put him on his way.
In the past, I had situations where the guest tried to ask me questions but I quickly refused to answer by saying that as a journalist I am the one asking the questions, that they agreed to come for the interview and I ALWAYS brought back the exact question they tried to avoid answering.
Some politicians are master in manipulating questions and answers.
He actually said that in that program he is operating under the title of "host" and not "journalist" so he was not merely reporting facts but also bringing out his own opinion. Fazeer Mohammed rocks! If TV6 hires him that will be so cool.