Police question Stabroek News over CIA report

Nov 27, 2012 News

– GPA slams attempt to “intimidate” journalists
The Police are investigating how reporters of independent daily Stabroek News gained access to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in what Editor-in-chief Anand Persaud calls “a fishing expedition.”
The Guyana Press Association (GPA) has said the move is an attempt to intimidate journalists.
The investigation is being conducted at the behest of the Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon.
Police have so far questioned Persaud and have asked for statements from the two reporters. In addition, the newspaper’s driver was held briefly yesterday and his car was also impounded at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
Mr Persaud said that the reporters were engaging in usual practices in journalism and did not breach security.
The CIA building is located in the compound of Castellani House, which houses the National Art Gallery. The entrance to the CIA is the same entrance to the Art Gallery.
Persaud said that the reporters used the regular entrance and proceeded to the CIA building. He said there were no signs dictating how one should access the building or what rules should be observed.
As a result, he said that the reporters knocked on the door and entered the building.
The reporters were trying to determine who the head of the CIA is. The government has said very little about the agency and who mans it.
Persaud said that Guyanese have a right to know who runs the CIA, much the same as citizens of other nations like the U.S and the U.K know those who run their intelligence agencies.
He said that the reporters were performing regular duties and he sees the Police investigation as “useless.”
The GPA in a statement said that it stands in solidarity with the Stabroek News journalists who probed the activities of “ultra-secretive” CIA.
“The GPA is appalled at the Police questioning of the Media House Stabroek and the impounding of a vehicle used to ferry the reporters. The reporters were doing what reporters do on a daily basis worldwide in properly functioning democracies, being the watchdogs of the society,” the GPA stated.
The press body said that it is unfortunate that those who seek to watch the watchdogs and others are seeking to intimidate and troll the reporters by using the unorthodox method of questioning how journalists do their job.
“As has happened in the past, during a different administration, there was an effort made to intimidate journalists who were pursuing an important story about thallium poisoning.
“The bark was worse than the bite then as it is now,” the GPA declared.
The GPA said that it will not allow any member of the media to be intimidated in the process of gathering information in the public interest.

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