Both Sides of The Coin: The Story of The Central Bank of Barbados 1972-2017

170 of finance. They also allowed journalists to question the governor about topical economic and financial issues. In an effort to help the media to better understand the Bank’s policies, opportunities were provided from early for them to interact with management and technicians. Two members of the press attended an in- house training course in 1976, but that did not deal specifically with the economy. Economic journalism was the subject of a half-day seminar for local and regional journalists held in the Chart Room in October 1982. It was sponsored by the Caribbean News Agency and the Caribbean Council and conducted by Governor Blackman and Economist Edsil Phillips. The Bank’s first public relations seminar was held on May 12, 1993; it too was conducted by Dr. Blackman, by then a private consultant, and there were participants from regional central banks. Additional sessions, for local journalists only, were held in 2004, 2006 and 2008. The 2006 event was co-sponsored by the Nation Publishing Co; the session in 2008 was attended by 25 practitioners and students in the Mass Communications programme at the Barbados Community College. Apart from Bank staff, presenters included senior journalists, bankers and academics, with Editor Emeritus at the Nation Publishing Co., Harold Hoyte delivering the feature address. As would be expected, an institution as important as the Bank got more than its fair share of exposure in the print and electronic media. However, not all of the Bank’s public relations forays were unqualified successes and from time to time the reporting and feedback did not portray the Bank in the best light. In the overwhelming majority of cases the negative press was short-lived; but there were some socially or politically-sensitive issues that elicited negative reactions for an extended period. Three of these Newspaper clipping showing the Barbados Workers Union’s opposition to wage restraint.