THE TnT Mirror has been the talking point over the past week as several exclusive stories in both the Friday and Sunday editions have been making waves in the print and electronic media.

A controversial story headlined, “Warner’s Black Caucus wants Ramesh,” written by Azad Ali created a stir and the following day ended up as the front page lead story in D’Guardian (Monday).

The journalist wrote that United National Congress (UNC) Chaguanas MP Manohar Ramsaran claimed there was a Black Caucus within the UNC. But Ramsaran was only commenting on the report about a Black Caucus in the TnT Mirror.

The Guardian article made it appear that it was Ramsaran who made that controversial statement.

He has come under some heavy criticism from within the UNC, other politicians and callers to radio programmes for the report.

Ramsaran has been trying to clear the air on what some are arguing is a racist statement.

The Sunday Mirror article (Back Page) reported “some UNC supporters are putting a racial slant to the team of Jack Warner, Dr. Rupert Griffith, Dr. Daphne Phillips and Dr. Jennifer Jones-Kernahan, saying that a Black Caucus has taken control of the party, reminiscent of a UNC slogan a few years ago, ‘we come too far to turn black now’.”

Over the past week, Ramsaran has been making the rounds in the media -- radio and television -- trying to explain that he was only commenting on the article in the Sunday Mirror.

He is even calling on D’Guardian for an apology for attributing the report to him.

Then on Thursday, an enraged Anil Roberts spent some two hours on his Power 102 evening road show to slam the TnT Friday Mirror over a story that two popular talk show hosts had brokered a $100,000 secret payoff to bash the People’s National Movement (PNM) Administration and embattled UNC Political Leader Winston Dookeran.

Roberts was “spitting fire” and went on the defensive, even though the article did not suggest it was him.

The fuming talk show host described the Mirror newspaper as a weekly rag.

In another exclusive story written by Azad Ali, Mirror also “bussed a mark” on how newly-appointed UNC senator Dr. Shastri Moonan was charged with bribery some l8 years ago, which sent shock waves and caused eyebrows to raise in political circles.

Moonan, who was charged with bribing telephone company (Telco) corporate secretary, Rudy Brown with a Royal Saloon car some time in 1986 to secure a contract, was freed by the Court of Appeal.

His attorneys had argued that Moonan was charged under the 1987 Prevention of Corruption Act instead of the 11-11 of the old Corruption legislation. When the indictable charge was re-laid, Moonan’s attorneys went to the High Court seeking a Judicial Review of the case, which was determined in his favour in the Court of Appeal.

Brown had fled the country before the trial and the police had taken out a warrant for his arrest. Moonan and Brown were jointly charted with the bribery offence.

Lately the dailies have been rehashing Mirror’s exclusive stories in their newspapers and making it appear they are on the ball.

As we have consistently maintained, Mirror leads while the competition merely follows ...