GINA is the designated accreditation agency

Jul 28, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
Last Saturday’s Kaieteur News report titled, ‘KN reporter refused entry to President’s press conference’, is demonstrative of that newspaper’s unwillingness to subscribe to the rules and regulations governing the media profession in Guyana.
It has been a long-established rule that media practitioners, including reporters and cameramen, visiting the Office of the President and State House for assignments, are required to present their Government Information Agency (GINA) press passes to security officials for entry into any of these premises.
GINA is the officially designated agency for accrediting media personnel on application from their media houses and the media passes are countersigned by the Police Commissioner.
Kaieteur News, like all other media houses, is fully aware of this rule. The other 21 media practitioners who attended last Friday’s press conference at the Office of the President had access because they presented their GINA press passes.
It might be instructive to note that Mr. Yohann Earle, reporter of GNNL and Mr. Vishal Seokumar, Studio Supervisor of NCN, were also denied access because they did not have their GINA press pass.
The Kaieteur News reporter, Mr. Gary Eleazar, was turned away because he failed to meet the security requirement.
The Kaieteur News’s declaration that it is not recognising GINA press passes shows that Mr. Eleazar was fully aware that his objective was to challenge the system.
The media is no law unto itself. If we are to set standards then Kaieteur News must follow the rules of the game.
Kwame Mc Coy
Press & Publicity Officer to the President

Editor’s Note: We have noted the comment that GINA is the officially designated agency for accrediting media personnel on application from their media houses. In no country, except the most repressive, do governments accredit the media.
Journalists seeking the Free Movement of Skills certificate must be accredited by the Guyana Press Association. The GINA pass is not recognized anywhere in the Caribbean.
People holding the GINA pass rush to seek accreditation by the Guyana Prsss Association which is the only locally accredited body by the Caribbean Community.
Someone likened the GINA accreditation to accreditation to the White House. That is a sad comparison. White House passes are very limited. The GINA passes are held by any and everyone. One cannot therefore talk about security.

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