THE CARIBBEAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (CDB) will host its series: A Special CDB Discussion Forum on Development Issues Through The Lens Of The Media – The Art of Reporting: Getting the Story Right.

This forum will be held at the bank's conference centre at its headquarters in Wildey, St Michael on Wednesday beginning at 9:30 a.m.

The feature presenter will be William Gumede, author and journalist.

Gumede is a columnist at the Sunday Independent newspaper, Johannesburg, South Africa, and teaches at the School of Public and Development Management, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

He also teaches at the Institute for Democracy and Diversity, New School University, New York. He was the Clive Menell Fellow at the Terry Sanford Institute for Public Policy at Duke University and deputy editor of The Sowetan, South Africa's largest national daily newspaper.

Prior to this, Gumede was senior editor of the Financial Mail, South Africa's leading finance weekly and former chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa.

He has done work for most of the world's large media houses, including the Economist Intelligence Unit, BBC WORLD Service, CNN and Time Magazine.

Joining Gumede will be a panel of eminent Caribbean journalists: Dr Allyson Leacock, general manager, the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (Barbados); Rickey Singh, columnist, THE NATION; Professor Selwyn Ryan, columnist, the Sunday Express (Trinidad); Anthony Fraser, columnist, Trinidad Guardian and John Maxwell, columnist, Sunday Observer (Jamaica).

Dr Sharon Marshall, CDB's information officer, will chair the forum.

The CDB Special Discussion Forum is a programme of panel discussions and lectures involving personnel from within and outside the bank, intended to heighten awareness of various issues relevant to Caribbean development and enhanced regional interaction. The forum is open to the public. (RG)