The words of Brian Stelter will never reverberate in Guyana  

Aug 24, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

---

Kaieteur News – I think most people around the world who watch CNN will know the name, Brian Stelter. Mr. Stelter hosted one of the most famous television programmes on CNN named, “Reliable Sources.”

He called a spade a spade and was trenchant in his criticisms of President Trump. A new CEO took over at CNN and felt Mr. Stelter was too left-liberal. The CEO removed Reliable Sources. The CEO said he prefers more neutral perspectives.

In his final appearance, last Sunday, here is what Mr. Stelter said, “But it’s going to be on you to hold CNN accountable…You got to hold your local paper accountable; you got to hold your local digital outlet accountable. It’s on all of us. We are all members of the media, all helping to make it better.”

This has been my sermon since I entered the media 34 years ago. But this has also been my sermon since I entered social activism more than 50 years ago. We the people have to hold societal actors accountable. The media and civil society are too powerful not to hold them accountable.

In those long decades of presence in the media and political activism, I have been psychologically lacerated by political actors and media houses not being fair and accountable. How then can they expect to influence state power in more acceptable directions?

I have consistently argued many moons ago, and I still do, that you cannot accuse the government of being callous and biased when you are the very thing you accuse state power of being. The media and civil society groups are not a horse-cart driver that has no power to influence the dialectics of Guyana. The media and civil society have such a capacity, therefore, they have to be accountable.

Any senior journalist that has left the Kaieteur News, including Adam Harris and Leonard Gildarie, would tell you that the disagreements, which I have had with the publisher of Kaieteur News, Mr. Glenn Lall, have been countless. I am not afraid to repeat on this page that I think it is about 15 years now, I have not been given an increase as a paid columnist.

I am not a fan of the Stabroek News. Since the death of its founder, Mr. David DeCaires, the SN has strayed millions of miles from what it was under Mr. DeCaires and its journalistic integrity can be debated.

I cannot believe what I saw when one of its owner, Ms. Isabelle DeCaires, replied to me in this newspaper to say as a shareholder, she cannot interfere with the work of the editor. But isn’t this the problem Mr. Stelter is pointing us to? He believes that the onus is on us to hold the media accountable. That also is the task of the shareholders of any company.

I am not a fan of the present crop of civil society organisations. Three negative occurrences stand out in my mind about the existence of certain civil society groups in Guyana. The first one is connected to prominent Opposition politician, Timothy Jonas from the organisation named ANUG.

This year is 2022. That would be two years after 2020. Yet in 2022, I saw a Zoom discussion in which Mr. Jonas requested the head of Transparency Institute-Guyana Chapter, Mr. Frederick Collins, to declare with emphasis that there were attempts to rig the 2020 elections.

Please note: Mr. Jonas is not a supporter of the ruling party or the government. On the contrary, he is a critic of both. Mr. Jonas was a guest recently on the Gildarie-Freddie Kissoon Show and he was in full rage in his criticism of both.

As I watched the exchange, I wondered why Mr. Jonas was asking for that commitment. What was he getting at? Could it be that he expected the transparency group to do what its raison d’être compelled it to do?

The other is a wise and eye-raising pronouncement by Mr. Ralph Ramkarran. He suggested to civil society organisations that there are many areas of life in Guyana that need their focus and they should locate their focus there instead of seeking out situations that have sex appeal.

He cited domestic violence, alcohol abuse, the traffic madness. This little statement, coming from the leader of an opposition party holds tremendous research significance. It exposes the sincerity of some organisations in which ego-tripping has replaced patriotic commitment.

The third negative is accountability. If an organisation wants state power to be accountable then it has to be accountable too because it purports to speak for the citizenry. One organisation replied to me and said it has a 12-person board but refuses to publish the names.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

---

---