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Media and oil
Kaieteur News – “Media workers slam lack of transparency in oil and gas sector…cites dearth in public information, education campaigns” (KN May 2). This was part of what came out of the Kaieteur Radio Show, Guyana’s Oil and You, hosted by Ms. Kiana Wilburg. The language of the media workers who participated in the show speaks for itself. It conveys to the world some of what is transpiring with this oil that is now part of Guyana’s rich reality. It is a reality rich with promise, but poor in all that is part of its existence, as far as locals are concerned.
We say this from the start: this was not the sentiments or positions of media workers associated with this media entity. Rather, it was of media workers from different organisations, who tell it for what it is, but which also closely matches our own beliefs and conclusions. ‘Dearth in public information’ about oil was one area covered, and on this, we are going to say a lot.
Take away the information, presentations, and almost daily contributions on Guyanese oil developments, and there is little else. Without praising ourselves, most of what comes from other public and private sources are about discoveries, production, and more foreign businesses coming here to exploit our new riches. The in-depth probing that leads to critical public reporting, and taking of sharp, revealing public positions, via the media, is just not happening as it should.
When it does, it is too little, and far from enough to make Guyanese pause, stand up, and understand what is going on with this oil of ours. Due to this, every Guyanese, the people who this oil belongs to, could actually believe, and end up thinking that all is well with this oil, and that there is nothing to worry about. In fact, there is plenty to worry over, and it lies in what leaders in this government do, how they go about managing this oil business, how they (don’t) share information on all oil issues.
Here is the drop dead reality, the essence of Guyana’s oil truths: the PPP/C Government and its leaders are not sharing what they should about oil, so that Guyanese have the fullest understanding of what is happening, what each and every development means for them. All they have is Government propaganda that is riddled with untruths, what is left out, what slants, what misleads, what never tells the whole story on oil, never the full truths.
So, when the workers in the media, from outlets that are outside of Kaieteur News (and Radio) can take the stance that there is a ‘dearth of public information on oil and gas’ this is what they are seeing, hearing, and learning. There is no transparency on oil and gas, other than what the President and Vice President, say that it is. What they call transparency on oil and gas is laughable, stupid, and insulting. This is how both of them are making themselves into the biggest laughingstocks before everyone who hears them, including their own. Information is withheld to conceal significant oil elements from citizens, or massaged to convey their own tricky angles on oil, or constructed in such a way as to deceive and mislead Guyanese on what is really happening with this oil of ours.
The more they withhold information, the more they look suspicious. Both the government and its leaders are not fooling the people with their hairsplitting and dancing around on this oil. They only make bigger spectacles of themselves, which more and more Guyanese are coming to grips with, and which is what workers from other sections of the media have the honesty to say publicly.
As the other media workers asserted, there is little public education on oil and gas. The public needs that education, but the Government refuses to do so, because its leaders prefer to keep the people in the dark, insist that they remain ignorant about this oil. More media sections, and more media workers must speak out, join the fight to get as much as can be had on this oil of ours. This is non-negotiable, and all must demand it now from leaders before it is too late.
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