Journalist Keiron Murdoch has resigned from his position as host of the popular Sunday program The Big Issues on Observer Radio
Murdoch posted on social media last night that “I have resigned from my position as host and producer of the Big Issues. I thank Observer for the opportunities it has afforded me over the years”
Murdoch’s resignation came just hours after he posted the lineup of his show on social media.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne was expected to form the last segment of the program to discuss cash handouts to residents
Murdoch said in a message to his guest that “the station leadership resolved to cancel the interview which I had booked with the PM, and to announce this evening that it had been canceled. I was unprepared to continue in the circumstances. Unfortunately this leaves you in a bit of a quandary as to what will take place tomorrow”
He wrote, “for this, I do sincerely apologize. I have left Observer with the script of tomorrow’s show mostly prepared, as well as all guest contact information. I imagine they will nominate someone to reach out to you directly. I will not be hosting tomorrow, however, as I am no longer an employee”.
We are seeing this too often now from this media house and from ZDK where the owners are two individuals with expressed interest in getting into government.
You do not hear this kind of rabbit censorship and stifling of opposing voices and views from the two ABLP owned stations.
There is nothing left to imagine. Serpent and Sean are dictators and must be kept as far as the east is from the west from the reins of political power. And the fact that the UPP leadership has remained silent makes them guilty by association.
Not dem again…..NEVER!
I guess you didn’t hear about the treatment Sheldon Daniel got when he left Observer n joined Point FM. I can’t speak to ZDK but after the PM said in parliament that “Observer is a threat to the country”, talks of locking them down, not giving them equal share of government ads, why should Serpent give PM Gaston Browne any air time? If it was my business I certainly would not. Serpent should have put an end to having Gaston get air time sooner. In fact we must not forget how much air time Gaston Browne did get from Observer over the years.
Fighting the enemy does not always means being like them. For the most part Antigua is an educated community, and I am sure Observer’s listeners are representative of that fact. I am confident that the host would have controlled the narrative hence, influencing what the public walks away with. Give your enemy rope to hang themself.
Your second paragraph is crap. If you want to appear to objective, be objective.
When will media people be able to play their trade in piece?
“Ply” “Peace”
That is what happens when you have politicians running media houses. Kieron is better off
Amen and amen and amen to that
Its only a matter of time till like likes George and Beek charles and neto and the rest leaves. It would be good if murdoch was allowed to question gaston. Besides they hate each other. No harm in this at all.
I don’t think ZDK management has a gag on their news cause the other day i heard a story with Gaston calling Sean lazy on there which means their reporting is not biased. Sounds to me like they are balanced in the reporting. Pm Browne says, UPP leader says and so on. Just my 12 cents
She recommends that Observer Media should do exactly what it did in 2004, when one of its founders stated that his objective was to remove the then administration from office.
“The Board of Observer needs to sit and think about the direction going forward. What happens during the campaign? What happens after the campaign if there is a winning candidate who is part of a winning party? Or what happens if you have a winning candidate who is part of a losing party, or losing candidate and losing party? All of those will have implications for the company,” Brann said.
“Immediately, a clear and concise statement from Serpent indicating he is an owner and programme host, but he will be removed from programming and newsroom decisions, and be seen to be removed from these programming decisions, should happen. And then he should let his word be his bond.
“The Daily Observer itself needs an editorial statement and they need to recommit to fair and balanced news process and they need to be seen to be doing that regardless of where the owner sits and what their editorial i.e. their opinion is,” Brann added.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Observer Media Group and their UPP Allies are going insane.
They are hell bent on keeping their blind loyalists and unsuspecting supporters/followers in ignorance, even through censorhip of discourse.
He who seeks to undermine, or hide the truth has no moral integrity.
My political opponents have tried for over two decades to break me without success. As a consequence, they have now resorted to hatred.
Their hatred is so egregious, that they have become desperate; accentuating every mole hill, or articulation of humor into a mountain of immorality and illegality, without any supporting facts, or evidence.
I will never allow the limited perceptions of my opponents and the mercenaries who they co-opt from time to time, to define me.
I know who I am.
I am a man of faith; I believe in doing good for the benefit of all. I am realist, not a perfectionists. I do not practice falsities and fakery. What you see is what you get.
I believe in and practice honesty and integrity uncompromisingly. And I am empathetic to the needs of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.
Any guilt surrounding my conduct, is for doing what is right and saying what is true, without malice or ill-will.
The Truth is not always beautiful and it may be offensive, but inviolable.
I stand anyways on the truth.
Notwithstanding their like, or dislike; no one could justifiably condemn me for incompetence, any act of unintegrity, or malevolence towards anyone.
My philanthropy, empathy and kindness is well known and acknowledged.
I do not have to have a motive, or reason to be kind and generous. It is engrained in my psyche, in my being, to be kind and generous, even to those have ridiculed me.
UPP’s misleading and dumbing down rhetoric about Gaston Browne & ABLP, is nothing but cheap, unenlightened, valueless politics.
UPP supporters need to take responsibility to seek other views and information to find the truth. PFM is a great source of information and truth, especially the Browne & Browne show on a Saturday.
It is frightful to see the amount of people who lack integrity; competence, many of them functionally literate, with past criminal convictions, who are dominating the UPP’s hierarchy and exerting a crudely dumb influence on the institution its supporters.
The
As a consequence of their low level discourse, issues of national, hemispheric and global interests are ignored.
The UPP has failed to join the ABLP in discussing:
Global issues such as climate change, the war on Ukraine, nuclear disarmament, multi-dimensional vulnerability index, reform of UN and the International Financial architecture; hemispheric issues including US policy on Cuba and Venezuela; Domestic policy issues including; green and blue economies, digitalization, regional integration, reliable air and sea transportation, stem cells therapy, block chain/cryptocurrency, cannabis, and overall economic diversification.
The subject of their choice, which has now grown to obsessive proportions, is the demonization of Gaston Browne, using lies, half truths and innuendos.
The various polls including theirs, confirmed that they are losing and losing badly.
The demonization of Gaston Browne is evidently not working.
Please circulate the above as a reminder to the UPP leadership that:
The definition of insanity, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
“Ply” “Peace”
Call the elections. Call the elections. Call the elections. Call it. Call it.call it…we fed-up
NEWSCO/Observer is hanging on by a thread as a profitable company. It is bare skin and bones at this point, and is not thriving because of, but IN SPITE OF the obviously retarded and/or intentionally ignorant management team/board of directors currently in place.
The company attracts very little advertising (in comparison to its obvious potential), the people in charge are willing and empowered to sacrifice its growth for political risks, the handful of talent employed there appears fed up, disinterested and demotivated, and there is no obvious goal in sight (whether it be a certain figure for listenership/viewership, earning a certain figure for revenue, pivoting to more digital operations, or to be recognized outside of Antigua and Barbuda as a renowned media company etc).
How can NEWSCO, a company that had the best head start in the race to success (compared to Pointe, Antigua Newsroom, Antigua News etc) – by virtue of the Observer brand already being ingrained into Antiguan and Barbudan culture – remain in the same place, or even worse than where it started?
All that being said, the ‘handful of talent’ mentioned earlier includes the Big Issues host, and for a company that doesn’t attract ‘big name’ media talent, the management appears dumb enough to ostracize a young man that is likely to become renowned as such a talent in the future – talk about checkers and not chess.
Without a doubt, The Big Issues, Observer AM, and the Good Morning JoJo shows are the best NEWSCO/Observer currently has to offer. With the exception of the sports show (at least to the naked eye), they’re all being affected by political interference, and not in a positive way. The producers/hosts appear to be pushing through regardless (tip of the hat to them), but there comes a time when enough is simply enough.
Now, without even listing the vastly superior characteristics of the shows mentioned above (which should be obvious to even casual listeners), take a look at the rest of the station’s major programmes – those that are quite clearly not affected by any negative interference and are given free reign to ‘flourish’.
DLP’s show: Archaic structure, small pool of ‘C-List’ guests rotated, interviews/discussions rarely of any national importance, regularly entertains ‘alleged’ perverts/deviants, host pretentious; not very knowledgeable about important matters, attracts very little advertising.
Algernon’s show: Opposition politicking, geared toward gossip more so than important discourse, ‘slow’ co-hosts, host similarly pretentious, obviously not inviting to sensible/serious guests, little to no structure, attracts no advertising.
Frank and Paul’s show: Very little structure, same opposition politicking, ‘lead’ host similarly pretentious and abrasive, not inviting to proper guests, discourse often of national importance but ‘watered down’ by politicking, attracts very little advertising.
Knight’s show: No structure, opposition politicking, inviting to barely any guests of note, host not very smart; doesn’t solicit/incite intelligent discourse; has little-to-no critical thinking skills; literally mentions the Prime Minister or the ABLP in every other sentence, attracts no advertising.
I will not even go any further with this rant, but to ask someone, anyone out there who might read this, that has the necessary resources and vision – make the NEWSCO/Observer board a purchase offer they can’t refuse, so the company can finally get free from the clutches of the small-minded group that are holding it hostage, and it can start to fulfill its promise as a top-tier media company. Antigua and Barbuda would forever be in your debt.
This what happen when you let a SNAKE control what Mr. Derrick worked so hard to build. Serpent and UPP getting more and more desperate by the minute. UPP has no leader and no vision. UPP done lose!
Serpent have 26 ACRES of land wallowing away and he supposed to be Shadow Minister of Agriculture…….. His BPP is to GET money from the people instead of GIVING to the people.
The reporters and journalists need to all resign and let the board do the news. Young aspiring journalists under that kind of stress everyday of their lives. How can they even go home and be proper husband’s and wives after being in that snake pit everyday? Mayday mayday…send help for Observer staff!