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No media monitoring

Nov 05, 2013 Editorial

 

 
Before the advent of sophisticated electronic gadgets and long before even the radio had become ubiquitous the newspaper was the prime means of information dissemination. This was so all over the world even after television had arrived in those countries that were far more advanced than Guyana. Newspaper circulation was at its highest because everyone wanted to keep abreast of the happenings. All over the world the newspaper kept appearing on the streets, sometimes printing as many as five editions.
Guyana had its share of multiple runs of the press and all because the focus was on getting accurate information to the people. Today, the circulation is not as high as it used to be. Perhaps the decline in literacy, the reduction in disposable income and the presence of television have contributed to the drop in readership.
For sure in the developed world with people reading from their little electronic gadgets that do not take up as much space and do not have the potential for inconvenience as hard copy newspapers the readership is also declining. However, information is still important and people do not treat the dissemination of information lightly.
The various media bodies have put in place regulations that govern the operations of the various media entities. One such regulatory body forced a major media entity to sell a newspaper that actually breached the privacy of a young girl and published a story.
Some have been slapped with heavy fines for inaccurate reporting and others have sanctioned for false reporting. Advertising agencies are sanctioned for false advertising and the list goes on.
In Guyana there are really no regulatory bodies. In the run up to the last two general elections the Guyana Elections Commission caused to be set up a media monitoring unit with foreign inspectors. The monitoring unit had no legal powers but such were the inspectors that they were able to make errant media houses feel guilty.
There were weekly publications of the reports of the performance of the media houses. And the findings were telling. The biggest culprits were the state-owned media houses and those aligned to the ruling party. Not much has changed since then; the same entities are as brutal as they were during the election campaign.
More recently, there have been a series of misrepresentations in the print media. There have also been blatant reports that are not only unproven but also palpably false.
As fate would have it, most Guyanese are not prone to legal action given the sloth of the courts.  There are those who say newspapers in Guyana are the promoters of untruths, that they cannot really be believed.
If that is the case among sections of the readership then there is something wrong with what passes for media in Guyana. A situation that has not escaped notice is one involving some aspects of the life of many people. Accusations of theft and dishonest practices without one shred of evidence adorn the pages of newspapers and even the airwaves.
Some of these are ignored and scoffed at by the saner souls in the society. Others join in the chorus that some newspapers are trying to grab attention and perhaps gain readership.  These are the people who know that no single media house has information on a single topic.
Had there been any truth in some of the statements and allegations then other media houses would have been reporting on the very stories. This has not been the case. The allegations continue.
In one case the target has refused to even contemplate legal action simply because the victim says that the reading public is not blind and that they know a joke when they see one.
He says that legal action would actually serve to give the newspaper a boost because people would suddenly develop an interest. As it stands, very few are aware that there is even a most scurrilous attack taking place in the media. And worse there is no regulatory body to sanction the offending media.

 

 

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