The issue is not about competition

Jan 31, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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People often query where in a small society like Guyana, the material is found for sustaining daily columns by more than one columnist.  They need just look at any press conference hosted by the President. There is so much material coming out of these conferences to fill a year of columns.
These press conferences provide food for thought and a banquet for comment. They are also a good measure of how our young journalists are maturing on the job.
I was quite impressed by our own Tusika Martin asking a question about early warning systems for Guyana. It shows that she is a journalist doing her research before proceeding to these conferences.
But what really impressed me was the daringness of some of our young reporters at the President’s recent Press Conference hosted on Monday.
Memories of Enrico Woolford came rolling back as the young reporters from the private media houses asked tough questions of the President, questioned his logic on the issue of the Integrity legislation and pressed him hard over the allegations leveled by his former wife.
It was good to see the young reporters keeping the President on his toes as he tried his best to deflect the criticisms of his ultimatum to Members of Parliament to declare their assets to the Integrity Commission. Even the old stager, Uncle Adam, who traditionally asks the tough questions, had to play second fiddle to his younger brigade at the President’s last Press Conference.
Uncle Adam did however ask an important question. He asked about the advertising policy of the government since it has been noted that the Guyana Times which hardly has a circulation recently received an almost full-page advertisement from the government.
The President in his answer said that he did not deal with advertisements. This is a very strange answer because I distinctly recall during the controversy over the withdrawal of advertisements from the Stabroek News, the former President of Guyana, Mrs. Janet Jagan, had publicly disagreed with the withdrawal decision and when the President was asked about this he said she was a private citizen and entitled to her views.
It is interesting that he could have said that then about a criticism of his administration’s policy on the placing of government advertisement but is now claiming that he does not deal with advertisements. Even if he does not dapple with the specific act of placing these ads, he surely has responsibility when it comes to the issue of official policy concerning this matter.
When the Stabroek News controversy broke he outlined what I believe to be a credible advertising policy. He said that the government had to look at circulation, value for money and that the policy was to place ads in one private daily and the state-owned Guyana Chronicle.  He was later forced under relentless pressure to reverse this decision and restore ads to the Stabroek News.
The problem is now in relation to government ads to the Guyana Times. There have been suggestions that Kaieteur News is only making an issue of this because the said newspaper is a competitor.
This is an inaccurate assessment. The Guyana Times is in no position to compete with either the Stabroek News or the Kaieteur News. It is struggling to compete with the Guyana Chronicle.
The Guyana Times is still in its infancy. It is not yet off the ground properly. It is struggling with its poor circulation because the public is not interested in another pro-government newspaper.
There is therefore no competition at stake here. The criticism of the advertisements being given to that newspaper has to do with the use of Government resources.
What justification can be presented for government advertisements to that newspaper which has no credible circulation?
I myself do not buy the Guyana Times. The one time I was forced to purchase a copy was when my vehicle broke down on the road and in trying to fix it my hand ended up being plastered with engine grease. At the same time, a paper boy was passing and I quickly bought a copy from him so that I could wipe my hands.
The issue here is the use of government resources. When you consider that today the cane cutters in this country are suffering because of the downturn in the industry, that most of them cannot afford to eat a meal of chicken when the week comes, then the extent of the tragedy becomes clearer.
And yet instead of ads being prudently placed, what we have is a situation where the Guyana Times is receiving advertisements from the government even though it still has not established itself as a newspaper of credibility. This is high-tech squandermania.

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