For not taking over the GPA

Jul 25, 2008 Features / Columnists

The government is often accused of being responsible for everything and when it is not being accused it is expected to solve every problem or to deal with every issue.

In Guyana this has been the case from the days when self-government began and more than fifty years later it is continuing.

The irony is that when some government leaders actually try to satisfy these wishes of the people they are accused of micromanagement. Everyone has heard that President Bharrat Jagdeo is micromanaging the economy.

Just this past week letters went to the Office of the President from the Guyana Press Association asking President Jagdeo to manage the affairs of the media.

This had never been made known, but the very press association that wants President Jagdeo to bow to a reporter, now wants him to manage the business of the press.

Political interference by successive administrations in the news and current affairs content of the State media.

This is frustrating highly skilled and qualified reporters and they eventually leave the profession or the country. The Guyana National Newspapers Limited (GNNL), for example, suffers from a severe shortage of staff.

Notwithstanding political interference, the quality of human resources at the senior level more than one decade ago had facilitated training and mentoring in newsgathering, writing, production and presentation.
This is one request.

The involvement of the government in the operations of the state is normal and the state media is no exception. However, this involvement is limited to the appointment of the members of the Board of Directors.

The unusual thing here, however, is that the GPA says that people leave the profession because of political interference. There is no evidence of this because people leave other jobs.

The GPA now wants President Jagdeo to stop people from leaving the media, and the country, particularly those who work in the state media. The GPA should be doing this; the body wants President Jagdeo to do this.

The inability of most privately owned television stations to recruit and retain skilled, qualified and experienced reporters and editors.

This is another area of concern by the GPA. What has President Jagdeo got to do with this? If an employer cannot find workers then he or she must do something that would make people take notice. And of course, the GPA says that this is happening at a time when there are no jobs.

Inexperienced reporters and editors
This is due to high staff attrition in the State and privately owned media.

President Jagdeo is now informed that the movement of people away from the media is not confined to the state media.

The GPA must be confused or simply so enamoured with the Head of State that the body wants him involved in the operations of the media.

Why else would a body seek to have the president actively involved in the media? This is not usual and is unheard of in any part of the world.

But the GPA wants to make history. A disabling legislative environment preventing access to public officials and documents.

This is due to an absence of freedom of information and freedom of the media laws. In the absence of these laws, public officials are fearful of being disciplined if they provide information to the media.

There will be a Freedom of Information Act but it is common knowledge that reporters access Government officers almost at will.

They approach and interview them at Parliament, they meet with them at just about every public function and they also call these officials since most reporters have the mobile numbers for the ministers.

This, then, is another case of what can only be considered nitpicking. Such is the desire to have the government be responsible for just about everything that even something that is clearly out of the question is being blamed on the government.

Security concerns.
Media workers are concerned about life, limb and property, particularly in the context of violent crime, drug trafficking and politics. These concerns are notwithstanding the fact that danger is one of the occupational hazards of reporting.

What has the government got to do with this? One can therefore expect the policemen and the soldiers and the security guards to make a similar request of the president.

One can only ask ‘what next?’ as the very GPA that sought to place the President under siege continues to make these requests of the president and by extension, the government.

Is the GPA becoming another opposition outfit? By the way, being not aligned to any party does not mean one is not anti-government.

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For not taking over the GPA

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