MATT wants journalists' sources, tools protected under Special Operations Bill

Akash Sama­roo

The Me­dia As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (MATT) is call­ing on the Gov­ern­ment to amend the Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Bill, 2026 to ex­plic­it­ly pro­tect jour­nal­ists’ con­fi­den­tial sources and equip­ment from po­lice seizure dur­ing spe­cial op­er­a­tions.

In a state­ment yes­ter­day, as the leg­is­la­tion was be­ing de­bat­ed in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, MATT said while it sup­ports law­ful mea­sures to re­duce crime, it is con­cerned about the po­ten­tial im­pact of Clause 15 on free­dom of the press.