Speaker to probe “lying” report by online news outfit

Jan 27, 2013 News

Speaker of the House, Raphael Trotman, is probing reports of unfair reporting by an online news outfit on Friday night, during a sitting of the National Assembly. Moses Nagamootoo, Parliamentarian for the Alliance For Change (AFC), accused Inewsgy.com, an anonymous online news site reportedly with close links to government, of breaching the privileges of the House. He complained to the Speaker.
The report accused him of lying during the debate on an opposition-tabled Bill to slash the benefits of former Presidents.

Speaker of the House, Raphael Trotman

Inews said that Nagamootoo lied when he said that he did not vote in 2009 when the Bill allowing the benefits was passed in the previous Parliament. Nagamootoo said that he admitted that he had voted for the Bill in 2009, but this is a far cry from lying as Inews was saying.
He said that according to the privileges of the House, the reporting must be fair, balanced and contemporaneous. It was neither fair nor balanced and the media outfit may have lost its immunity.
It is not known who the operators of Inews are although sources are indicating that the website is managed by a team from the state owned news agencies and a number of others closely aligned to government.
Minister of Legal Affairs, Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, during the session on Friday produced Parliamentary records that Nagamootoo did vote. The Parliamentarian had said during his presentation that even if he did back the Bill in 2009, that situation has changed now.
According to the Speaker, he has seen the report and was concerned; it did not reflect what went on in the National Assembly.
It was the same “outfit”, the Speaker said, that sought to “malign” him two weeks ago. “I have ideas…to the origins of the outfit.”
The Speaker said he will be raising the issue with the Clerk of the Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs.
“I will not permit anyone to make such a ridiculous, lying statement of any member. I will be speaking to the Clerk about a possible course of action.”
The Speaker said that he has spoken about the issue just a few days ago.

AFC’s Moses Nagamootoo

The original report by Inews was sent out but was later corrected with the word “lying” being taken out.
The Opposition, which controls the National Assembly by a one-seat majority, has been complaining about biased reporting from the state media.
APNU has presented a report where the Government Information Agency (GINA) consistently was slanted towards government.
Last year, the Opposition voted to slash GINA and NCN’s budgets.