SAYING he did ’absolutely nothing wrong’ when he visited the 94.1 FM radio station on Abercromby Street in Port of Spain to complain about comments made during one of its newscasts on October 25, Prime Minister Patrick Manning yesterday said he had nothing to do with the decision of its managers to suspend two of its employees.

’They had suggested that perhaps they might investigate the matter and get back to me and I said get back to me for what? It have nothing to do with me. Whatever you do, you do. That is your radio station. You run the radio station, I run the country together with my Cabinet colleagues and so, we had a clear demarcation of responsibilities in that conversation,’ Manning said during yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.

He made the comment as he responded to criticisms levelled against him by the Opposition and concerns raised by the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) president Marlon Hopkinson that the action was ’inappropriate, in light of the fact that it can be perceived as an attempt to intimidate or to stifle freedom of the press’.

’First of all, I didn’t suspend anybody from a radio station. I have no such authority and, therefore, if individuals were suspended from a radio station then it was a purely internal and management issue that has absolutely nothing to do with the Prime Minister,’ Manning said.

He said the second ’issue therefore, is whether it was proper for a Prime Minister to visit the radio station or not’.

’In visiting the radio station, all I did was exercise a right that is available to all citizens, including the Prime Minister. There could be absolutely nothing wrong with that,’ Manning said

He said while he was not in any way attempting to stifle freedom of the press or expression as enshrined in the Constitution, he said such rights come with responsibilities and are not absolute when those exercising them infringe on the rights of others.

Manning said that in the 38 years he has been in politics, he had seen the local media grow to three daily newspapers, several television stations and about 38 radio stations, and found not one of them was pro-government. However, he said he was not saying this had to be so and was merely making an observation.

Asked if he planned to visit other radio stations if he hears anything he finds offensive, he acknowledged that he had several other options to deal with such matters.

’If, for example, I hear a report on a radio station that I find improper, then I have a number of options. I could choose to visit the station, I could choose to raise it officially through the relevant Minister in the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, I could go to the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, I could go the Media Complaints Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, I could go to the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago, I could go to the courts. I have a choice,’ Manning said.