WE WILL SURVIVE!

Aug 27, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Glenn Lall is a visionary. Long before the recent withdrawal of GINA ads, he had predicted that this was in the works, and he took steps to protect his newspaper from strangulation by the State.
While not many in the pressroom are admitting it publicly, privately they are expressing relief at the price rise in Kaieteur News, since it has now dawned on them that Glenn predicted and saw the game plan a long time ago, and began to prepare himself for the eventual cut-off of all government and State ads.
Kaieteur News raised the price of its newspaper a few months ago because the publisher was sure that there was only an intermission in the process of strangling the private media. He anticipated that the plan would be taken to a new level and that eventually a situation would arise whereby the private media and the government-owned Guyana Chronicle would be forced into financial distress. The plan was being executed by amateurs and Glenn read them like a storybook, so much so that he knew their every move even before they made it.
Kaieteur News now does not have to bother about the recent withdrawal of GINA ads, for it was prepared for such an eventuality. The recent curtailment of government project advertisements has received stinging criticisms from the Stabroek News, which must now make the necessary adjustments to protect itself from financial implosion. The Chronicle may not be able to make the necessary adjustments. Its circulation is so poor that it may have to do the unimaginable and go out of business. The new kid on the block does not have to worry about ads, even though it will also not receive GINA ads. The new kid has support that allows it to survive regardless of its circulation or high costs of production.
GINA’s ads will now be placed on a website. This is the government’s latest commitment to transparency. When the government, through advertisements, invites bids or expressions of interest for the provision of services and goods or for the sale of public property, it needs a means to reach those with an interest. But more importantly also, the public advertising of these tenders are a means through which the public is advised of what the government is doing and a means of demonstrating openness and transparency.
These objectives cannot be achieved by advertising on the Internet since only a minuscule fraction of the population has access to the World Wide Web. While the present move by the government will be defended on the grounds of reducing costs, it does so at the expense of transparency and accountability, for now tens of thousands of Guyanese would not be able to see the ads when they are placed on the Internet.
They will not be able to scrutinize the ads as much as would have been done had it been in a more widely available medium such as a newspaper. For example, just recently the government advertised the State’s shares in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company for sale. The public was able to read about this sale because it was advertised in a widely accessible medium. Because of this, the public became aware of that controversial caveat in which the government indicated that it was bound to accept the highest offer.
Contrast this with a situation in which the ads are placed on a website. Not many people are going to be able to see these ads and therefore there are risks that wool can be pulled over the eyes of the Guyanese people. The situation is fraught with danger and all manner of sales can take place without the knowledge of many of the citizens of the country.
The international funding agencies should be mindful of these things. The policies of these agencies now commit them to greater transparency in projects they fund. As such, these funding agencies should indicate to the government that in so far as their funding is involved, that there has to be wider advertising of invitations of tenders and expressions of interest.
They should indicate that while advertising on the Internet is good, transparency and accountability would be better served if the invitations of tenders and expressions of interest are advertised in a more accessible medium.
It is no surprise that we have now reached the stage whereby the government wants to drop ads in newspapers. The government did not wake up overnight and discover that advertising on the Internet can result in significant cost savings. The Internet has been around for a very long time and therefore one must seek other explanations as to why the government never utilized this medium.
Glenn Lall believes that he knows the reason. He says that he saw it all along. But he would like to remind those who are behind this decision that nothing they do will cause the demise of the Kaieteur News or the Stabroek News. The people of Guyana are the ones who purchase the newspapers and they will never allow either the Kaieteur News or the Stabroek News to suffer as a result of the motives of those behind the recent decision concerning government ads. Never!

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