Final year Public Relations and Print and Online Journalism students at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) at UWI, Mona will stage a mock press conference at the Mary Seacole Hall meeting room on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 2 pm. The mock press conference is designed to equip students with practical skills in dealing with the press in crisis situations and provide hands-on experience in planning press conferences. It will also facilitate critically thinking in students and allow them to respond strategically in crisis situations. The students will address the JPS Billing increase that was announced in August 2008. The Public Relations students will subsequently be assessed and graded.

The advanced Public Relations class will serve as the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS Co.) They will have a mock CEO and a Director of Billings, who will address the billing incident that affected a number of communities across the island in August 2008.

Students from the Print and Online Journalism class will act as Journalists from different media houses. They will come prepared with a field of questions to ask the CEO and Billings Director from the PR Class about the incident.

In August 2008, the JPS Co had issued bills that were calculated for a period in excess of the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) stipulated time. This resulted in significantly higher bills for more than 12,000 customers.

For more information on the press conference, please email eva.ackun@hotmail.com.