Images and Narratives

Apr 04, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Not many people pay keen attention to photographs that appear in the newspapers. If they did as much as I do they would have noticed certain trends on which to draw conclusions.
On the day before the Minister of Finance read his Budget to the National Assembly, a photograph appeared on the front page of the Kaieteur News showing the Minister and officials of his ministry engaged in a discussion over the Budget. This was obviously a photo shoot intended to highlight its imminent presentation.
The photograph was quite interesting. It depicted the officials sitting in a circular huddle around the Minister, no doubt in an office. The caption of the photograph spoke to the final touches being put to the Budget.
What was interesting about the photograph was that everyone had on casual clothing. In fact, one of the individuals in the photograph was so casually dressed that he was wearing a beach trousers or short pants as they are known in Guyana.
This meeting obviously took place on the weekend and therefore those attending may have felt at liberty to dress casually. The minister had on what appeared to be a jeans and a shirt.
Now the Minister’s dress can be excused. He is after all the boss. But the other persons, regardless of whether it is a Saturday a Sunday or a holiday, ought in any meeting with a Minister to be better attired.
If you are going on a field trip with a Minister of the government, it is understandable that you would be uncomfortable wearing a shirt and tie or a shirt jac. But when you are appearing in front of a Minister, regardless of the day or time and it is for official business, you should try to be dressed as if you were dressing for a normal working day. And even if you are permitted either by custom or otherwise to dress casually when meeting with a Minister, this should never extend to wearing short pants.
Interestingly, the Guyana Times had a similar photograph published on the same day and somehow that same short pants appeared to be long pants. I do not know whether a “photoshop” was done on the picture published in the Guyana Times, but it is hard to explain how a beach pants can appear longer than it really is.
The real issue, however, is about standards of dress. You can still be flexible; you can avoid being elitist and yet at the same time set certain standards. It is totally unacceptable for anyone to be appearing in a photo shoot with a Minister of the government dressed in beach pants. Not acceptable at all! Standards have to be raised.
Standards also have to be consistently applied. This past week there was another photograph of interest appearing in the newspapers. It concerned a radio announcer who was remanded to prison after being charged with assault. After being denied bail, he was escorted out of the magistrate’s court in handcuffs. That would seem to be a little bit excessive.
Why was he in handcuffs? It was humiliating enough that he has been charged and put before the courts. But was it necessary for him to be handcuffed? Alongside that very photograph appeared another one showing a female murder accused being escorted out of the court. She was not handcuffed.
Now if you compare the two offences, the person charged with murder would be considered more serious. In fact, it is an indictable charge. The murder accused is not in handcuffs but the person charged with assault is in handcuffs.
No one is saying that every murder accused should be placed in handcuffs. Rather, the point is that the use of handcuffs for prisoners on remand should be used sparingly, because like all photographs, such depictions project an impression of individuals.
Now I am sure that if it were the other way around. If the woman was in handcuffs and the man without, a public outcry would have been raised.

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