Jagdeo hates professionalism

Apr 17, 2011 Features / Columnists, My Column

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Reporters are not supposed to make the news. They are the ones behind the cameras, the microphones and the pen; they are the ones who put people in the news. They conduct the interviews or ferret out the pieces of information that would make essential news items.
They are the people who write about things that some people would wish to hide and above all, they are the people who see themselves as the guardians of the society.
Because of what they do, politicians hate them, except in cases where the politician is a friend. In such cases the friendly reporter would be used, provided he keeps that particular politician out of the limelight, unless the situation that warrants publicity is one that would boost the politician’s career.
As a reporter I have tried to avoid the limelight. Indeed there were times when I had to go before the cameras because some other reporters considered me a font of knowledge. University students and diplomats also sought me out. But for the most part I would sit quietly by and direct the action.
This, though, is not without its risks. I get blamed for just about everything. Last week a reporter went late to an assignment at Colgrain House. Neendkumar was there and as soon as he saw the reporter he said, “Adam Harris told you to come late.”
On another occasion I was blamed for all the negative reports on the Georgetown Public Hospital. There was the time in the recent past when I was on a much-needed vacation and a reporter did a piece on a lawyer who charged a family a healthy sum to get one of their own released from prison. The reporter got wind of the story and did the piece. The lawyer responded angrily that I have something against him and that I directed the assault. Everything leads to me whether I am aware of the happenings or not. If it rains Adam Harris is the cause.
And so it was last week that President Bharrat Jagdeo decided that he should join the ranks of those who attack me. He told his party congress that I was an Editor of New Nation and that the New Nation stopped printing as a newspaper because I had incorporated it into Kaieteur News.
But it was the manner in which he said, “Adam Harris was the Editor of New Nation” that got my attention. It was as if he was saying that I was a thief or a criminal of sorts. I simply can’t see Janet Jagan being the Editor of the Mirror as a crime but she went on to become President. Donald Ramotar was and still is a regular contributor to the Mirror and he is challenging for the office of President. I don’t know that that is a crime.
Ralph Ramkarran was also a contributor to the Mirror and he too challenged to become president. No other editor is seen as a criminal. Only me. It has to do with my professionalism and my ability to ferret out that which the government wishes to hide.
I became Editor of New Nation in 1982 and continued until 1988 when I moved to the Guyana Chronicle. I was Editor in Chief of the Chronicle, too, and up to the time I left in October 1992, it was the best selling newspaper in the country. Not even Stabroek News sold more copies. President Jagdeo does not mention that.
I was Editor in Chief of The Evening News and made it the best newscast in the country. I am also the Editor in Chief of Prime News. President Jagdeo also ignores that.
I joined Kaieteur News in 1995 and never did I want to be its Editor. Suffice it to say that the government in general and the Information Minister Moses Nagamootoo in particular, openly told Glenn Lall that unless he got rid of “that Black man, Adam Harris” the newspaper would never get one advertisement. Perhaps there was this dislike for me since then. It is now coming to the fore. I have never been a beauty contestant or a popularity seeker so the dislike does not matter one iota to me.
Suffice it to say that my presence with Kaieteur News lifted the newspaper to the top of the ladder.
But back to being the Editor of New Nation. That was an honest living that utilised my skills. It was a job that helped me see many countries. Even the Americans recognised my talent that while Editor of New Nation, they invited me to Washington DC for a media exchange.
The Russians invited me and I went; the Chinese invited me and so too did the Koreans. The job was prestigious but Bharrat Jagdeo wants to sell me as a criminal.
I have never been a thief. Further I say not.
I recall back in 1992 when the PPP brought a St Lucian, Earl Bousquet, to edit the Mirror, he wrote that the government on investigating me at the Chronicle could have lost me away in jail for some unknown irregularity. I should have sued. None of the people in the PPP who may have gone through the records at the Chronicle could find anything to suggest any irregularity.
Cheddi Jagan must have ordered a probe and Moses Nagamootoo and Vic Insanally must have willingly obliged. I challenge them and Bharrat Jagdeo, even now, to unearth anything about me while I served at the Chronicle.
I have always been a professional and the Head of State knows this. I have always reported accurately and he knows this. I am one of the few trained journalists in Guyana having spent time at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus.  For him to launch an abuse against me was surprising.
Indeed I preside over a newspaper that highlights those things that he would want to keep hidden and I have no apologies. That is my job. On one occasion he publicly said that a newspaper should expose shortcomings of the government.
That the New Nation no longer prints has nothing to do with me. The last time I edited an issue was in 1994 and I am certain that the New Nation printed many other issues under a different editor since then.
For Mr Jagdeo to say that I have now taken New Nation to Kaieteur News must be a case of poor research. And in any case, his one-time friend Glenn Lall, who was one of his staunchest supporters, would not have allowed that.
I pride myself on what I am. Like Jagdeo I am divorced; I fathered five children who are all grown; unlike Jagdeo my earnings are taxable; I get nothing free and I do not accuse people unless I have proof.
I am not going to sink into the gutter.

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