KINGSTON, Jamaica – After opting out of the national debates organised by the Jamaica Debates Commission (JDC), the People’s National Party on Thursday said it has accepted an invitation from the RJR Communications Group to take part in a 90-minute session focusing on the 2016 general election.

However, at least one journalist, who is also the president of the Press Association of Jamaica, Dionne Jackson Miller, has said that she will not participate in the RJR Group session with the PNP.

Speaking on RJR’s Hotline with Emily Shields, Jackson Miller said: “I won’t be participating and I have told Milton Walker about my position already.”

Walker is head of News and Sports at RJR.

A news release from the governing party Thursday said that a PNP contingent, led by party President Portia Simpson Miller, would field questions from a group of journalists drawn from within the RJR Group’s newsroom. The session will be broadcast before February 22, the release added.

Minister of Finance and PNP campaign director Peter Phillips said the party views the RJR session as “a feasible and indeed an equidistant” opportunity to the national debates in which the party has refused to participate.

The PNP said the refusal was sparked by Opposition Leader Andrew Holness’ failure to fulfil certain criteria demanded by the PNP, which included an apology to Simpson Miller for an “insulting reference” to her.