Latest update September 13th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 28, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Kaieteur News – Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, in his latest press conference, found himself grappling with media imbalance. He griped about the perceived injustice by Kaieteur News and Stabroek News, accusing them of focusing on a handful of dissenting voices at the National Toshaos’ Council Conference (NTCC) while neglecting the supposedly vast majority of Toshaos singing praises to his government. But this spectre of bias, so meticulously constructed in the Vice President’s mind, dissipates when subjected to the harsh light of scrutiny.
Jagdeo’s outcry, in its essence, is not an isolated incident of political chagrin. It reflects a broader malaise afflicting the state of democracy in Guyana. It is a tale as old as time, where those in power, armed with the machinery of the state, wage a perpetual battle against the inconvenient truths that independent media dares to highlight. Yet, in his incessant tirade, Jagdeo conveniently sidesteps a glaring hypocrisy—that of the state-owned media’s blatant partisanship. This one-sidedness makes a mockery of any claim the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPPC) might make to moral authority on the issue of balanced coverage.
To claim, as Jagdeo does, that the private press’s attention to government critics is a disservice, is to ignore the essential role of the press in a democracy. The independent newspapers, Kaieteur News and Stabroek News, by giving voice to government critics, perform a vital service: holding power to account, and providing a platform for those marginalised by the government’s narrative. Were it not for these outlets, the voices questioning the government’s actions on Amerindian issues, among others, would be drowned in a sea of state-sanctioned propaganda.
The state media has become a mouthpiece of the government. Instead of a public service, it has become a mirror reflecting only the government’s image. Its editorial line is an echo of the ruling party’s talking points. During the budget debates earlier this year, those who dared tune into the state channels were subjected to an onslaught of government spokespersons, their speeches dominating the airwaves, one after the other. The Opposition, representing nearly half the populace, was afforded scant or no airtime.
This pattern is not new, nor is it unique to the current administration. The APNU+AFC coalition government, during its brief tenure from 2015 to 2020, demonstrated a similar disdain for media plurality. The state media under their watch was a mirror image of its predecessors, providing coverage so lopsided that it became a farce. The public broadcaster was reduced to a puppet theater with government hands pulling the strings.
The transition of power back to the PPPC in 2020 did nothing to alter this narrative. If anything, it solidified the state media’s role as the government’s megaphone, blasting its message across the nation, while critics were left to shout into the void. In this context, Jagdeo’s lament about media imbalance rings hollow. It is akin to a pot calling the kettle black, a spectacle of hypocrisy where the PPPC, which has mastered the art of one-sided media coverage, now cries foul over the independent media’s refusal to toe the line. To demand balance from the private press while overseeing a state media apparatus that functions as a partisan tool is not just disingenuous; it is an affront to the very principles of free speech and democracy.
The PPPC, like many political parties before it, seeks to control the narrative. The independent press, by highlighting the voices of dissenters, disrupts this narrative, providing the public with a fuller, more nuanced picture. This is not bias; it is the essence of journalism. The role of the press is not to serve as a cheerleader for those in power, but to question, to probe, and to reveal the truths that those in power might prefer to keep hidden.
True balance in media coverage requires more than just a superficial tallying of supportive versus critical voices. It requires a commitment to fairness, to presenting multiple perspectives, and to providing a platform for all voices, especially those that challenge the status quo. For the state media to claim to be public service broadcasters, they must first earn that title by abandoning their role as government mouthpieces and embracing the principles of journalistic integrity.
Jagdeo’s gripe with the independent press should serve as a mirror, reflecting back to him and the PPPC the reality of their own media practices. It is not the independent press that needs to change its ways but the state media. If Jagdeo is truly concerned with media balance, he should start by looking within, by transforming the state media from a tool of propaganda into a genuine public broadcaster. Until then, the PPPC’s pronouncements on media balance will remain what they are—empty rhetoric, devoid of credibility and reeking of hypocrisy.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
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