Extreme inequalities in state ads distribution – Int’l press body

Aug 02, 2013 News

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A report by the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) has highlighted the entity’s concerns over complaints that the Guyana Government may be unfairly using state advertisements to give back-door financial assistance to favoured media houses.
A review by the body revealed “extreme inequalities in the way such advertising is distributed”.
The state-owned Guyana Chronicle and The Mirror, a newspaper owned by the ruling party received “more than four times as much state advertising space as the so-called “opposition” papers, Stabroek News and Kaieteur News,” the IPI found. Kaieteur News has the largest distribution, followed by Stabroek News.
The ads issue has over the years raised tensions between private, independent media houses and Government, with the latter at one time withdrawing all its ads, announcing that it would be placing these on its eprocure.gov.gy website. However, the previous administration later reversed the decision, allowing state ads to be placed once again in the private media.
Observers believe that this was done to facilitate a new newspaper, with close links to the government, to receive state ads.
Earlier this year, the IPI, a powerful watchdog body of which several prominent media houses and journalists are part, received complaints over the placements of ads, which it was opined was not done in a transparent manner.
The IPI noted that Kaieteur News was the biggest selling newspaper on Sundays with 37,000 copies, but in terms of state ads, it received the least.
The review was conducted over a four-day period in May of this year where it was found that the Guyana Chronicle received 8,397 column inches of state ads. The Mirror came next with 3,247 while the Guyana Times, a newspaper with close links to former President Jagdeo, was third with 1,581 column inches. Stabroek News received 1,147 with Kaieteur News at the bottom with a total of 664 column inches.
The placements become even more bizarre when taken in context of the circulation of the newspapers.
According to the IPI review, the Guyana Chronicle is claiming circulation of 18,000 copies on Sundays, with no figures provided for The Mirror. The Guyana Times, meanwhile, claimed 20,000-25,000 copies on Sundays, but insiders said this figure is more like 6,000. Stabroek News is doing 19,800 copies. Kaieteur News remained on top with 37,000 copies.
“As shown, these figures do not correlate with circulation numbers: the Chronicle has (according to its own estimate) one-half of Kaieteur News’s readership, yet receives, on average, 12 times as much state advertising. Such data certainly lend weight to accusations of deliberate discrimination in the distribution of official advertising, in order to punish certain newspapers for expressing their opinions. Speaking about the Chronicle and The Mirror, one editor said state advertising was a “back door subsidy because their circulation is low and they don’t attract many ads from the private sector.”
In 2006, the government abruptly withdrew state advertising from Stabroek News. Official advertising was restored to that newspaper in May 2008, after 17 months, but was almost completely withdrawn again in 2010. Prior to the dual withdrawals, state ads had accounted for 15 per cent of Stabroek’s advertising revenue.
According to IPI, Principle 13 of the Inter-American Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, promulgated in October 2000, clearly states: “The exercise of power and the use of public funds by the state, the granting of customs duty privileges, the arbitrary and discriminatory placement of official advertising and government loans; the concession of radio and television broadcast frequencies, among others, with the intent to put pressure on and punish or reward and provide privileges to social communicators and communications media because of the opinions they express threaten freedom of expression, must be explicitly prohibited by law. The means of communication have the right to carry out their role in an independent manner. Direct or indirect pressures exerted upon journalists or other social communicators to stifle the dissemination of information are incompatible with freedom of expression.”
On Monday, the IPI called on Government to begin a review of all outstanding broadcast licence applications, including those filed before the Broadcast Act took effect. The body also urged that the granting of any new television and radio licences should be done transparently and under the guidance of an independent Broadcast Authority.
The IPI’s three-week visit to the region was to check on progress made by the countries to eliminate old criminal defamation laws.

 

 

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