A fair media for a better country

Mar 06, 2018 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
Referring to your editorial “Responding to restructuring of the sugar industry”, of March 04, 2018, it can be described as accurate in a somewhat brief illustration of the private media, per se, decidedly hostile attitude to the coalition government, which commenced just after taking office.
The opinion piece was definitely conservative in content; much too charitable, as I suspect that the intention may have been not to ruffle feathers of sister outlets. But, there comes a time when a spade must be called a spade, with the truth being made clear.
What we have been witnessing since 2015 is a well-orchestrated right wing attack on the David Granger administration, with an unmistakable racist agenda, which is questioning the right of an Afro-Guyanese-led government. This is a strategy that comprises some representative elements of civil society, and the business and commercial sectors, among others.
And they are led by the PPP/C opposition, whose leaders are being allowed by the private media to sanitise themselves after an abysmal two decades in government, during which Guyana became a criminal state with every conceivable venality being committed against the people of this nation.
While I do agree that the media is an open window for discussion, it has the moral obligation to give proper shape, guidance, intellectual content and objectivity to such debates, without becoming “bandwagoners” and opportunists.
Above all, in such an ethnically polarised society, its role has to be careful mediators; “honest brokers” as you pointed out in Sunday’s opinion, and being able to diffuse tension, rather than assisting such a dark agenda to continue its odious spread.
In any other jurisdiction, there would have been outright media condemnation of the disrespectful conduct given to the President during his address to our National Parliament. Instead, what was offered were veiled excuses that in effect supported the PPP/C mob.
It was another abysmal example of some media houses aiding and abetting what has been the most blatant example of parliamentary disrespect, thus far in this country’s modern political history.
There was even a declaration of economic war against the government and state, when a collective deliberately began the hoarding of foreign currency. The aim no doubt, was to destabilize the economy, creating an artificial crisis. Instead, the media houses began blaming the government, rather than call out the saboteurs. But the government ended their anti-state action.
With the exception of one of the print dailies that realized what had been taking place, the others began an open chorus of chiding the government for not managing the economy well. In fact, most of the private media, supported the dishonest argument, completely ignoring the fact that the local economy had already been in decline since 2013. This was a fact made known by a former Georgetown Chamber and Commerce Industry (GCCI) chairperson in 2016.
As to the GuySuCo industrial tragedy, the Stabroek News’ numerous pieces, inclusive of opinions, apart from being an enemy to truth, carried media dishonesty to new lows. It was shameful, and shocking for the lies of its own brand, and those from the opposition and sundry, that it fed its daily readership. How could such dangerously misleading pages, designed to whip up ethnic fears, ever aid GuySuCo’s search for a solution? How does such dishonest reporting benefit the nation? The late publisher David de Caires must have turned in his grave!
Undoubtedly, there is resentment against this government, by the political opposition, and other known forces, for its efforts in seeking to introduce a different type of governance that will be more transparent, and accountable to the people of this country; and where all Guyanese are counted, irrespective of race.
We believe that given our not so distant past experience, when the former administration had been a law unto itself, and where the rule of law had been continuously desecrated – that any media that upholds good governance and morality in the conduct of the State’s affairs, should support such high principles.
In fact, the media has a welcomed role to play in any democratic society, particularly on the seminal subject of governance. However, it does not have the right to aid, abet, and foster discussions on government in terms of its leadership capability by ethnicity; encourage contents that are inherently dishonest, and which do not add to finding solutions.
The nation has had enough of such a media that does not make for a better Guyana.
Regards
Earl Hamilton

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