On the 33rd anniversary of the coup attempt of July 1990 – when TTT employees were held hostage by the Jamaat al Muslimeen for six days alongside parliamentarians in the Red House – the Media Association takes note of the journalists who were taken hostage, those who worked to get the pictures and newspapers out, and those who barricaded the doors to the insurgents at Radio 610 (the only continuous conduit of information to the public) who have been disregarded by the state for more than three decades.

These journalists risked their lives, and many were permanently traumatised and scarred while doing their duty to their profession and country. They, alongside other hostages, had no formal recognition either in the historical record or in any formal memorial.

The MATT notes that the failure of every successive government since 1990 to recognise the role of the media as the fourth estate and a vital pillar of democracy in holding all the institutions of governance to account on behalf of the people.

This continuous lapse represents a broken moral compass for politicians who fail to understand that governance is expected to be conducted at a remove from party politics. The state is an institution and not an arm of the party in power.

Robert Taylor, Ira Mathur and Mandisa Pantin, daughter of the late Raoul Pantin place a wreath on July 27, 2023.