GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Julian Hunte wants the regional media to take the West Indies Cricket Board seriously and start a new, long, and productive working relationship to foster a positive future for the game in the Caribbean.

Some of the directors of the West Indies Cricket Board at yesterday’s media workshop held at Buddy’s International Hotel. (Clairmonte Marcus photo)

Hunte, the president of the WICB, was giving his thought on shaping a relationship with the media in the Caribbean which would reflect a mature, modern, and relevant engagement at a one-day workshop for regional cricket correspondents.

“We should regard each other with mutual respect and not animosity as a foundation principle,” he said.

“We respect the media has a role to provide information to the public and should be assisted to do so. Likewise, the media should understand that there are times when due to confidentiality, information cannot always be released immediately.

“In disclosing information, we need to be open and frank in explaining to the media the context and the situation which can be brought into the public domain.

“And we will seek to involve the media as an active stakeholder and provide the opportunities for you to be fully involved in West Indies cricket.”

Hunte likened the current relationship between the WICB and regional media to a broken relationship between a man and a woman.

“You pass each other frequently, suspiciously viewing each other, but hesitating to openly and frankly share many words,” he said.

“Soon there is so much misinformation that the young lady finds you irrelevant, arrogant, and distant. In short, you need to be replaced as a viable option.”

Hunte noted that West Indies cricket endured a difficult time last year, but he was confident that the coming year would be less stressful.

“What is clear is that following many years of stagnation which came about partly by the introduction of the ICC Future Tours Programme which denied us the revenue we traditionally earned is the absolute necessity to continue to modernise, innovate, and become creative in our solutions,” he said.

“The challenge now is to find the ways in which we make the board (of directors) and management World-beaters, and once again, produce a team that are World-beaters in a period of monumental changes to the structure of international cricket as we know it.”

Participants at the Workshop hailed from Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, and host nation Guyana.