Crossing the line
Post-match press conferences are usually fair routine affairs
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
Post-match press conferences are usually fair routine affairs. Occasionally - when David Gower left one early at Lord's in 1989, for example - something happens out of the ordinary.
But caribbeancricket.com reported that during the 3rd Test, one reporter - Val Thomas from St Kitts-Nevis - tried to use the question-and-answer session to make some fairly cheap points about insularity and favouritism in team selections.
Thomas is a disgrace to the profession. A parochial, narrow-minded individual who decides to be disruptive because it serves his own insular interest.
And Vanesia Baksh, writing on the same site, commented on Thomas, who having asked Daren Ganga about his role in the side, then rudely asked "Who is your godfather", implying that his place wasn't down to merit.
"It was a question designed to embarrass, and it did. It embarrassed the media. It annoyed the WICB's media liaison Imran Khan, and there was a heated exchange. What escaped him as he ranted and raved loudly and interminably while others tried to work, is journalistic professionalism. Moreso, and this is a point that relates to any profession, there is no call to behave obnoxiously to anyone in the line of duty. No profession requires that of its practitioners."
Martin Williamson is executive editor of ESPNcricinfo and managing editor of ESPN Digital Media in Europe, the Middle East and Africa