Is the media lazy?

Dec 31, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – One of Guyana’s Presidents once described the local media as lazy. By today’s standards that would be an understatement.

A certain lackadaisical attitude has crept into the work of the local media. Investigative Journalism which often requires seeking out sources or tiresome legwork and research, is in decline within the local media.

Many Media Practitioners prefer to sit and await scoops to land in their laps rather than to ferret them out. Economy of movement and time is now popular. Media Reporters prefer to sit at a desk and make phone calls rather than being out in society seeking out sources and news.

Every successful media person has been defined by a few major scoops or investigative pieces. Where would Bob Woodward be today had it not been for Watergate?

But even more unforgiving has been the failure of media workers to follow-up and follow-through on news worthy stories. Behind every breaking story there are two and three others stories just waiting to pop out.

Take the case of the story of the President who went into an area, saw an elderly woman in a ramshackle house, and decided to assist her by constructing a new home for her. This story made the headlines in both the mainstream media and on social media.

But no one has bothered to ask certain pertinent questions: Was Granny the owner of the original structure or the land on which it was built? Was she allocated a house lot by the Government in that housing scheme, or did she purchase the land and the house? Or is the lot and house in the name of someone else?

Why is this relevant? For a number of reasons! One, it is known that there are individuals who own multiple Government house lots and what they would do to ensure that the lots are not seized for non-construction of homes, is to place makeshift structures on the lot and to show that it was being occupied.

Now this may not have been the case with Granny. But it certainly should have piqued the interest of a nosy Reporter. Before the home was built for Granny, did the Government check and verify to whom the lot belonged? It would present a problem if it later discovered that the lot belongs to some relative of Granny but the home is Granny’s.

Then there is the case of the Lawyer who was purportedly shot and killed by her husband, a Barber, in what is believed to a murder/suicide. No one in the media is yet to confirm whether the weapon used was lawfully owned by the now deceased Barber and, if so, how such a young person could have been granted a firearm permit.

Even these types of questions arise from existing breaking news. And yet the media does not follow-up or follow-through by probing deeper into these stories.

Part of the problem is the culture which has developed within the media of depending overtly on pick-ups. The Government for example sends out releases to the media, which then in most instances regurgitate the contents in their news reporting.

Top Government officials, including the President, would usually go to an event and make a presentation. Some media houses would not even bother to turn up in the hope of nailing a scoop. Instead, they know that the Government Agencies would provide a report on what was said which can then be reproduced.

But what is sent out by these Government Agencies is what the Government wants to be reported. There may have been things said at the same event which do not make it into the Government’s releases, and therefore the media is missing out on the opportunity to report on things.

It is to the discredit of the local media, that opinion pieces have to be published complaining about the absence of police updates on the shooting incident at State House a few weeks ago. Now, why should the police be the ones on whom the media should be relying for updates? What has happened to investigate reporting?

Why have our enthusiastic young Reporters not been able to piece together the various parts of this puzzle and provide a clearer account of what may have taken place and the possible motive of motives involved?

No wonder there is so much conjecture, including the unsubstantiated assertions that there was a breakdown of security. The media has become lackluster. Let us hope this changes in the New Year!

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