By Andrew Warshaw
August 29 – Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, who had an often fraught relationship with the international press during his controversial career at the top table of world football, is apparently negotiating buying two media outlets in his native Trinidad and Tobago.
The Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) says it is concerned over attempts by Warner (pictured above and below, right), a senior Government Minister in his country, to acquire ownership of two establishments.
Reports in the Southern Caribbean nation suggest Warner wants to buy a controlling share in the daily Newsday newspaper and outright ownership of the weekly tabloid, the Mirror.
Warner resigned from all footballing activities in the wake of last year’s damaging cash-for-votes scandal that led to a complete overhaul in the workings of FIFA but is still pursuing a political career and is National Security Minister back home.
He is reported to have confirmed that he has held discussions on acquiring the newspapers but MATT said that while there were numerous precedents for members and officials of political parties and Governments owning substantial stakes in media houses, for “a minister to acquire such an interest while in office seems to be a new development”.
Given Warner’s long history both of attacking certain sections of the media and of using the press to defend himself against a succession of allegations, news that he may become a media baron in the Caribbean will certainly raise eyebrows in some quarters.
“For wealthy and powerful political figures to own media houses could mean there is a danger not only that the news will be censored, but also that journalists will practise self-censorship since they will find it hard to criticise those employers, and that directly affects the media’s role as a watchdog of democracy,” MATT said.
Last year’s cash-for-votes scandal, allegedly facilitated by Warner, unfolded in the Trinidad and Tobago capital of Port of Spain and led not only to Warner, FIFA’s most senior vice-president at the time, resigning rather than face a full inquiry but one-time Presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam (pictured above, left) being banned for life by FIFA’s Ethics Committee
Bin Hammam’s sentence was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but he was recently banned again, this time over claims of financial mismanagement when he was President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Contact the writer of this story at zib.l1735379206labto1735379206ofdlr1735379206owedi1735379206sni@w1735379206ahsra1735379206w.wer1735379206dna1735379206