NO DISRESPECT COMMITTED

Jul 19, 2008 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

I have read a most ridiculous letter issued by Mr. Prem Misir indicating that Capitol News reporters other than Gordon Moseley can cover press events at State House and at the Office of the President.

He also stated that the Moseley ban only applied to these places and he was free to cover the President’s activities in other places as well as cover government policies in general.

Sometimes, the government needs to know when to keep quiet. That letter was an insult to the intelligence of the members of the media. The issue at hand is the alleged wrong committed on Moseley. This is what Misir needs to be addressing.

What does Mr. Misir expect Capitol News to do? Does he expect them to overlook the grave injustice done to one of its staff and to send some other reporter to cover Office of the President and State House briefing?

Why would any self-respecting media outfit condescend by asking the very reporter who has been wronged by the Office of the President to cover activities of the President. The media in this country need to reduce their hubris and their own sense of self importance.

However, the media should not allow themselves to be reduced to sycophants or stooges of the government and must fiercely defend their rights, especially in this case.

At the time of writing my first two articles on the Moseley issue, I had not seen the offending letter that was deemed disrespectful to the President.

I have since seen that letter and I have found nothing, absolutely nothing disrespectful about that response, absolutely nothing.

Moseley had a right to defend himself against the charges that were leveled against him and he did so within the limits of fair comment and without going beyond the pale.

In fact, if Moseley can be banned for writing that letter, imagine what they would do to Uncle Freddie. They might want to tell him that he cannot use the roadways leading to State House and to the Office of the President.

I condemn the actions that led to Gordon Moseley being deemed persona non grata. I support any press walkout of events held at the Office of the President.

However, I cannot support a walkout of Parliament or the sort of attitude displayed by the media at a press conference recently held this past week at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

This is a misguided approach and needs to be reined in immediately before those showing solidarity with Gordon Moseley lose all credibility.

I am still confident that the President himself will intervene and reverse this action which we are told was taken by the administration of the Office of the President.

It is a poor decision and one that is likely to further bring the government into disrepute. I hope that the Guyana Press Association will be trying to bring an end to this matter, in as much as it tries to protest the sanctions imposed on Moseley.

These actions are not doing the PPP government any good. There are certain things that are happening under this PPP government that will put a huge dent into its many accomplishments.

The government has done itself no good by declaring Gordon Moseley as persona non grata. This action, coming against the backdrop of a series of political missteps by the incumbent administration, will seriously tarnish both the government and the party’s reputation.

Even the Guyana Times, which has hardly scripted an editorial line against the government, has joined in the protest action against this decision. It shows just how isolated the present government is becoming.

Tomorrow I will explain the deeper implications of this decision, a decision that will cast an ominous shadow over the next Congress of the PPP, an all-important event.

It would be extremely disturbing if the members of the media were to walk out of that event and thus cause both the public and the ruling party to suffer from an information blackout.

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