Boycott Jagdeo’s next press conference!

Apr 17, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – How much longer will the local press corps allow its members to be abused by the political directorate and its lackeys on social media? The media has a responsibility to report the news and the opinions of policymakers, but it certainly is not obligated to be used as a medium for government attacking its critics.

At his last Press Conference Bharrat Jagdeo threw a tantrum against the publisher of this newspaper, accusing him of lying in relation to a secret investor in the Marriott. Yet, onto this day, Jagdeo nor anyone of his acolytes has been able to tell this nation just who were the persons and/or entities which loaned the government of Guyana the monies for the Mariott Hotel.

Regardless of the merits of demerits of Jagdeo’s criticisms of Kaieteur News, the key issue which needs to be addressed by the media is the basis of summoning a press conference. Press conferences by senior government functionaries should cover matters of serious public importance not the petty and puerile issues which Jagdeo sought to address in his opening statement last week. Why should the press corps be summoned by the Vice President to listen to a rebuttal of some minor criticism which was made by the Leader of the Opposition? The government’s right to rebuttal could have been exercised through a press release or through a statement.

The Vice President has recently seen it fit to issue a statement in relation to a complaint filed by the Amerindian People’s Association. So why could he not have done the same or utilise his party’s political platform to respond to comments made by the Leader of Opposition? Were these comments of such importance that they deserved to be dealt with at a Press Conference? And in what capacity was he addressing those comments? Was it as General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party? If so, the Press Conference should have been held at Freedom House.

The recent vulgar and vile attack on a Kaieteur News reporter by a known pro-PPP social media platform must not be viewed in isolation. It must be examined in light to the PPP/C’s recent assault on the media, including comments made at Babu Jaan, the heckling of reporters at a Presidential Press Conference hastily called at Leonora and the recent attacks leveled at the Guyana Press Association. The PPP has a track record of anti-media actions. It was under the PPP/C that a person was banned from attending presidential press conference simply because of questions this person asked at a press conference. It was under the PPP/C government that the television licence was suspended, temporarily taking it off the air. A previous plot was exposed plans to attack the Kaieteur News and jail its publisher. A staff member of Kaieteur News was urged to remove himself from the offices of the newspaper because of a possible assault on Kaieteur News. A columnist of this newspaper had a miasmic substance thrown in his face and was later told that there were prior discussions to fatally harm him.  The litany of anti-media actions of the PPP/C is long and exhaustive.

The recent maligning of a young female reporter of Kaieteur News is reason enough for the media to reconsider the environment in which it now operates. It is well-known that the social media outfit that launched the recent vile attack on the young reporter is a pro-PPP/C and it is believed to be connected to individuals who are close to the bosom of the PPP/C.  When it returned to office in 2020, the PPP/C crafted a new strategy for dealing with media criticism. It began to woo away reporters from the private media by offering them generous compensation packages. The PPP/C government has also been less than fair in terms of the media houses and personalities to which it offers exclusive interviews.

Attacks against the media were not confined to private media personnel alone. The US Department of State Human Rights Report on Guyana 2014 recalled that the government-run National Communications Network had suspended a newsroom producer for broadcasting a parliamentary presentation by a member of an opposition political party. The report said that the PPP/C government had instructed the NCN to broadcast presentations by the parliamentary opposition late at night when viewership is low. The report also mentioned how independent media houses had complained about the use of libel suits to limit unfavourable media coverage of certain issues. The media is under assault in Guyana. The media must not cower in the face of this barrage. It must demand respect. It can do this by refusing to attend the next forthcoming press conference hosted by the Vice President. This would represent a strong protest against the government and a demand to be treated with greater respect.

 

 

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• govt, Guyana, Jagdeo’s, news, Peeping Tom, policymakers, v

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