I oppose lawsuits against media personnel for holding officials accountable

Mar 24, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
I write to applaud KN’s editorial staff, Peeping Tom, Ron Sanders and Adam Harris for their well thought out commentaries and opinions. I also wish to register my opposition to lawsuits against the media and or its personnel for holding public officials accountable.
I read large volumes of newspapers daily from around the globe from early in the morning. The quality of many of KN’s commentaries rises to the level of those appearing in respected newspapers worldwide. And what impresses the most is several of these writers don’t attack people; they are not personality-driven, like those coming say from a Freddie Kissoon or some letter writers like Maxwell or Asquith Rose, Haresh Singh, Lincoln Lewis, etc.
They use unsavory adjectives to describe people they are responding to that have no relevance to the gist of their arguments. This contrasts sharply with the arguments of Adam and the other op ed. writers of KN that are well thought out and supported with empirical data, references and other forms of evidence and that avoid personality. I am most impressed with Peeping Tom’s commentaries which I find to be of a highly academic nature; they are cogently stated and logically argued. Ron Sanders uses his diplomatic and international experience to put forth compelling arguments for economic development and a better quality of life.
Adam provides ample anecdotes to support his arguments and does not descend to the gutter say like the commentaries of Freddie Kissoon. But credit must be given to Freddie for sharply reducing his gutter like attacks on people and the families (spouses and children) of politicians – probably a result of the warning from publisher Glenn Lall and editor in chief Adam Harris. Attacks on personality take away from the quality of a commentary.
There is no need for a writer to insert unrelated comments about a person; writers like Rose, Singh, Maxwell, etc. who lack confidence in their arguments delve into personality. And although Freddie and others attack people without evidence (that led to the Jagdeo lawsuit against Freddie), I don’t think lawsuits should be used to muzzle him or others.
Some of Freddie’s writings are instructive of what has been happening in Guyana. Efforts should be made to mend his ways in turning him into a truthful writer especially that he has had a history of making claims not supported with facts or evidence or when he misinterprets peoples’ writings only to be corrected by Glenn or Adam.
On lawsuits against media practitioners, in general I feel people should have absolute freedom to pen their views providing they do not attack others or descend to gutter like commentaries. I do believe greater care is needed in editing when writers make assertions which are questionable; hearsay and hunches should not be used as a form of evidence..
But one can’t seek litigation every time one is criticized; we will end up with dozens of lawsuits daily. Politicians should not be thin skinned when facing criticism providing the criticisms are fair and factual and not based on manufactured stories say like some of those coming from Freddie. We should not subject officials to public ridicule as in the writings of say a Maxwell – that should not be purpose of a critique. Criticisms or critiques should serve to help officials better execute their tasks and the critics should not lie on them or exaggerate an issue.
And the media should provide politicians with opportunities to respond to critics and detractors. Sometimes it is better to pen a response to a criticism and or have an informal chat with the editor or publisher of the media (in the Guyana context) about it rather than threaten the media with a lawsuit; more can be achieved this way. Lawsuits should be an act of last resort and only for an attack extraordinarily malicious and grossly mischievous.
Vishnu Bisram

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