Nattering nabobs of negativity?

Jan 27, 2009 Editorial

The Vice-Presidents of the US, by and large, have been a rather forgettable cast of characters; and among them, Spiro Agnew, who served under Richard Nixon, was one of its more unremarkable members.
But he left a phrase which has stuck in the common parlance: “nattering nabobs of negativity”. He was referring to those members of the media who were maintaining an unrelenting barrage of unflattering coverage of President Nixon, and who eventually were to see him leave the Presidency in disgrace.
Many members of our present administration have, on numerous occasions and in myriad ways, displayed the conviction that the local media fit Agnew’s definition to a “T”. This has led to a veritable war of attrition in certain quarters, as salvos of accusations, defence and counter-accusations are hurled from what have become two pitched camps.
As is, unfortunately, inevitable in most wars, however, the truth has become the victim, as both “sides” peer at each other from their trenches and reflexively assume that their jaundiced perspectives define reality and, most germanely, what is in the best interest of Guyana.
This is a most untenable situation for Guyana. The Government must understand and accept that, under any and all forms of governance, the media act as the eyes, ears, and voices of the people.
This is their duty and their fate; it cannot be otherwise. And if the media were to deviate from this standard, they would be failing in their duty and be subject to censure.
It is as a consequence of history, in which the growth of the power of the state always had to be viewed with suspicion, and the media was one of the primary institutions to stand guard against the existential potential for abuse by the Leviathan.
The opposition politicians are seen as too self-serving to be impartial in their evaluation of governmental activities and actions. There has been too much validation of this perspective in the three centuries of uneasy co-existence between Governments and media for it to be cavalierly jettisoned.
The Government has to accept the most fundamental premise of democratic governance – that even the decisions taken in good faith by the majority may be flawed, and should be subjected to the most searching scrutiny. We are all, in the words of Kant, created out of the crooked timber of humanity – crooked as in “bent” and not necessarily criminal: no one is perfect. Scrutiny and examination ought to be taken as opportunities for rectification and adjustment of policies that may be flawed either in their conception or execution.
But, as we pointed out above, the knee-jerk assumptions of governmental bad faith by media can and often act against the goal they profess to be working to advance on behalf of the people: the development of awareness in the country and society to make the most informed decisions on matters of national import.
Apart from the self-righteousness that can sprout in the breasts of some “public defenders”, there is the bias that can creep into media perspectives based on the perspectives of the owners and publishers.
As governmental spokespersons have been at pains to point out, the media barons have their own agendas – and it cannot be assumed that these are coincident with that of the “people”.
In addition to the history of the development of democracy in the world at large, there is our own history that the senior members of the administration can recall from first-hand experience.
Newspapers in the sixties adopted the most strident and hysterical reaction to the then PPP regime, and colluded actively with foreign forces that were bent on removing them from office. And they succeeded – to the most profound detriment of our country. We are still tentatively trying to put ourselves back on our feet.
Our position is that it is time all of us – Government and media – take a deep breath and become more guarded with our rhetoric. The world financial crisis that is spreading like a tsunami from its epicentre up north can wipe away all our gains – meagre as some may have it – unless we adopt a unity of purpose in the coming years.
While the media cannot – and must not – discard their watchdog role, they must not raise false alarms that serve to distract the public they purport to serve.

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Nattering nabobs of negativity?

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