KN Erred on EZ Jet Ownership

Nov 21, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
The collapse of EZ Jet has exposed an inherent bias in KN’s reporting and commentaries. KN published several pieces suggesting that a former President and the publisher of a competitor newspaper were co-owners of EZ Jet. It was a malicious story that went haywire on the internet and in the US. It made many to believe that the former President really owned the carrier. It turns out KN is wrong and it behooves the newspaper to tender an apology.
I believe the media should have untrammeled freedom to publish and it is better to err on the side of publishing unsubstantiated information than to practice self censorship. Nevertheless, a fair minded press would say “We are sorry” after the collapse of EZ Jet came to light.
The media has every right to investigate and expose wrongdoings and even to take biased positions (against the government). But when the media is found to be wrong it should print a retraction and an urgent apology.
The media should be criticized for unfairly targeting people and accusing them of actions without evidence. Many Guyanese believe KN’s stories.
After all, why would KN publish a story if it weren’t true? Very often what appears in KN is considered as gospel making it practically impossible to undo falsities.
It is pellucid clear that the KN reports on ownership of EzJet by a former President and a publisher of another newspaper were very wrong. In fact, the truth is just the opposite!
It simply could not be true that Guyanese politicians or a newspaper publisher would invest in the airline business.
The government has moved to clip the wings of EZ Jet and even went further stating it could not provide it with assistance.
If the airline were owned by government officials, it would have received the full backing of the government. Airlines are not profitable businesses and no one in their right mind would want to get into that business unless they have money to throw away.
The paper libeled the two accused and misrepresented the facts on ownership. Freedom of the press does not entitle the media to besmirch someone else’s character and reputation without supporting evidence. The media has exposed its bias for not printing the truth.
Being biased against the government is OK but publishing unverified information attacking it is wrong.
A retraction of a statement that has been proven to be untrue is the right thing to do. If not an apology, a paltry acknowledgement of wrongly accusing the two men would go a long way to clear the air.
Vishnu Bisram

Editor’s note: Mr Bisram does not prove that KN is wrong

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