AN OFFER FROM ONE CHAMPION TO ANOTHER

Sep 07, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

---

Glenn Lall is known throughout Guyana for his humanitarian efforts, even though he is the type of person who does not go around showcasing the many causes to which he contributes.
His newspaper, Kaieteur News, has created history in Guyana by its fund raising drives for a number of disasters, including the Pakistan earthquake, the South East Asia tsunami, the victims of the Lusignan massacre and the terrible Haiti earthquake earlier this year.
Glenn has raised millions of dollars for these and other causes, and he has gone further than most and accounted for every cent collected by publishing on a daily basis, whenever funds are collected, the amount collected and from whom the proceeds originated.
Privately also, Glenn continues to help many persons in a significant way. He is a kind person who regularly helps others without seeking attention or recognition.
He is someone who has never forgotten his own humble beginnings and who is always willing to come to the rescue of those in need. He is a great humanitarian.
There is also a side to him that we have been seeing over the past years. It is a side, which shows his deep love for Guyana.
He is always concerned when things go wrong within our society. He has a sense of what is right and what is wrong. And he believes that when something is wrong it must be described as wrong. He believes in calling a spade, a spade.
Because of this attitude, because of his strength of character, because of his fearlessness in calling a spade a spade, Glenn is also one of the foremost defenders of democracy in Guyana without having to belong to any political movement. If he sees something that he does not like he says so.
He may not be in the forefront of any struggle but he will one day be regarded as the people’s champion because of his defence of the right of the people to receive to receive information.
In this regard, Glenn Lall is without comparison because unlike others who see press freedom solely in terms of the right of the press to operate unhindered, Glenn Lall places the right of the people to receive information as far more important than the survival of his newspaper. He is prepared, if it comes to that, to run his newspaper bankrupt, so long as the people’s right to information is respected.
He wants the people of this country to know what their government is doing. He wants them to have value for their money.
He wants to ensure that certain things are not concealed from the people and therefore he has taken a principled stand on the question of state ads.
The government has opted to advertise certain ads on a website. But Glenn knows that this would only allow a tiny fraction of the people to monitor and know what is going on as regards certain decisions by the government. He feels that by not advertising in the private media, there is a risk that things can happen that would not be good for the country, and things can also happen that would not be subjected to the scrutiny of the people.
This scrutiny is what he feels constitutes the essence of democracy and therefore he is prepared to set aside his company’s financial interests so that the people’s right to information is not obstructed.
He has thrown out an offer to another champion: the President of Guyana. Glenn has said to the government that he is prepared to publish most if not all of the government ads free of cost. One champion has thrown out an offer to another champion.
It just shows his commitment to democracy. He is not interested in getting into arguments. He wants to do what is best for Guyana and he feels that despite the obvious sacrifice that his newspaper will have to make, that he is doing the right thing for his country by his offer of free ads.
There is no other person in Guyana who would have done something like this. In fact, no one has ever before ever offered free ads to the government so that the public can have that vital source of information which Glenn feels is necessary for them to make informed choices.
By now the ads should have been pouring in to Kaieteur News. Any government, in any part of the world, would have excitedly jumped at such an offer for they would not only be saving money but also making themselves accountable and transparent to the public as regards what the government is doing.
The government has nothing to lose by taking up this offer. It is not going to cost a cent more for the government to advertise in the Kaieteur News, and the ads will reach a larger number of persons, in fact the widest possible audience because Kaieteur News is Guyana‘s leading newspaper.
And all of this Glenn is offering to the government free of cost.

---

---