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State terrified of the few non-govt. media – Nagamootoo
Vice Chairman of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Moses Nagamootoo, has firmly asserted that his party notes with alarm, pronouncements by the “intrusive” Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, that the press in Guyana should be regulated. He said that in ordinary people’s terms, this translates to telling the press what to or what not to publish, and to punish the press for violations.
AFC Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo
Nagamootoo said that the State is terrified of the few non-government media, while it encourages the vulgarity of its own media for being wholly partisan, propagandistic and pathetic, and for disregarding completely, standards of objectivity, balance and fairness.
During a press conference held on Wednesday at the Side Walk Café on Middle Street, Nagamootoo said, “The AFC is opposed to the State or politicians legally regulating or controlling the press, though we admit that standards ought to be raised, but this should be done by self-regulation.”
“We also expect that by self-regulation, journalists and their professional associations should adopt high standards of ethics, and have greater regard for truth, verifiable facts, balance and fairness in their work. Several of our journalists, mostly in the free and independent media, have already distinguished themselves for adopting these higher standards.”
The Member of Parliament stressed that the government has a legal duty to protect press freedom, not to undermine it.
“We have seen in the past how the free press was strangled by regulations that equated the importation of sardines with that of newsprint, and how the direct impact of trade policies resulted in non-government press being crippled. We don’t want to return there. The Attorney General ought to know that there already exist laws that deal with secrecy and defamation, that limit how much the press should know or publish. The much-abused “national interest” concerns also act as a hindrance, though necessary, to press freedom. In addition, there are also seditious acts that would make criticisms of the State a crime, for which even truth would not be a defence.”
Nagamootoo stressed that “there is no need to regulate the press, to make laws that could further fetter it, that could muzzle it, and turn it into a toothless poodle”.
“Historically the press has been the Fourth Estate, and in some societies the last bastion of a free society. We need an inquisitive press, not state inquisition against the press. The AFC recognizes new features of mass media that now include blogging, and sees the need for a full debate on the role of our mass media which include not only newspapers, radio and television, but cable, satellite, internet and even mobile phone communication. This, however, must not give the State an excuse to draft regulations for the press, or to dub perceived adversaries “meddlers”, or to gag non-government critics.”
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