Latest update November 24th, 2024 1:00 AM
Jul 11, 2008 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
There is strong and visible existence of “selective” bias practised by Capitol News against the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration in their everyday coverage and reporting.
The term ‘selective’ is carefully used because it qualifies a bias with huge hostility that is not equally extended to other groups in our society by the producers of this newscast.
What is irksome is that, in cases where one must object, rebuke, refute or expose one’s obvious slanted pieces, there is a resort to the safety clause on press freedom.
The constant failure by Capitol News to recognise and appreciate the right of the consuming public to fair, accurate and balanced reporting can no longer be accepted.
For the purpose of being current, I will avoid getting into the numerous infractions and focus on the most recent report by Gordon Moseley of Capitol News on President Bharrat Jagdeo’s meeting with Guyanese living in Antigua last weekend.
What was pathetic about Moseley’s letter in SN is that, in his typical unprofessional and biased manner, he sought to make the point that these negative comments were made and that the Government was trying to cover them up. At no point did President Jagdeo say they were not.
What the President lamented was the fact that, in a two-hour meeting which was entirely positive, Moseley of Capitol News focused on the only two negative comments at the whole meeting.
This was designed in characteristic Capitol News fashion to portray the whole meeting in a negative way. Moseley then sent his jaundiced view of the meeting to the Caribbean Media Corporation.
When one looks at the total footage of the meeting which was broadcast on NCN, it exposes Moseley’s bias and his obsessive inclination to convert every news item into anti-Government propaganda.
It is a mere reminder that he shares a large part of the long history of Capitol News’s slanted journalism designed to attract an audience with preference for news content that attempts to portray the PPP/C Administration in the worst possible light.
The two-hour-long meeting in Antigua was extremely civil, with excellent rapport and obvious love and respect for President Jagdeo by the hundreds of Guyanese who attended.
There were lots of contributions, with positive comments and outlook on Guyana. Then there were these two negative comments on crime and alleged victimization in Guyana.
It is no amazement that Moseley chose to record, to recall and to report only the two negative comments and exclude the views of so many other Guyanese who expressed admiration for Guyana’s advancement in many areas of development.
Moseley and his acolytes scouted around Antigua for the negatives on Guyana, as part of a People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) grouping which was rejected with the petition to CARICOM.
Had it not been for his description of Capitol News as a credible, balanced, fair and objective newscast, I would have been found wanting in my response.
It is sadly unfortunate that Moseley possesses such a skewed idea of what these terms mean, and how they should be applied in journalism.
Where is the balance by excluding the positive views that dominated a two-hour long meeting? President Jagdeo’s contention is solid; balance must contain a mixture of views outside of those negative accounts. If there was anything to hide, the President could have easily decided to close the event to the media.
Moseley’s reporting reflects a preoccupation and obsession with things negative, but, at the same time, he is inconsistent by not opting to use his preference for this reporting style across the board.
Capitol News actually represents media bias on full display. It is a disguise for an extended voice of the negative brand.
Kwame Mc Coy
Nov 24, 2024
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