‘Journalism being choked in Guyana’ …as Govt. tightens grip on information

Jan 03, 2026 News

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– GPA says press freedom is under assault

(Kaieteur News) – As Guyana enters 2026, the Guyana Press Association (GPA) welcomes the New Year with renewed commitment, but also grave concern.

In a wide ranging press statement, the association warned that journalism is increasingly being suffocated by state-managed access, curated appearances, and deliberate information control that undermine the public’s right to know.

While the GPA recommits to professional development, ethical standards, and a robust Media Literacy Campaign to counter misinformation, these efforts are being blunted by official obstruction. Press conferences have devolved into stage-managed events, stripped of follow-up questions and populated by friendly interrogators. Transparency has been replaced by performance.

The demise of post-Cabinet press briefings, silence from the Guyana Police Force, and the dysfunction of the Access to Information regime signal a retreat from accountability. The GPA warns that democracy cannot survive when journalism is reduced to a spectator sport and vows to resist this dangerous slide.

The GPA said their ultimate priority continues to be service to the public with quality journalistic content based on international recognised standards including ethics.

In this regard, the GPA plans to hold a number of professional development sessions, “as we have done over the years. Practitioners from all private and State-owned media are encouraged to take advantage of these opportunities when the calls for participants are issued.”

The GPA said it is also continuing plans to create greater public awareness about quality journalism and its importance to society through a Media Literacy Campaign.

These initiatives, the association said are all the more important if the practitioners of journalism are to produce and disseminate high quality news and current affairs content. “Our programme of work, in collaboration with regional and international partners, is now more than necessary to not only combat misinformation and disinformation.

In fact, journalists must now formulate new strategies and tactics to access information for the public good in an era of creeping information control by the Guyana government.”

Additionally, the GPA said the veneer of press freedom is being presented as one in which there is media plurality and supposed access to officials. “The reality is vastly different, and it is one that adversely impacts ultimately on the public’s right to fair, accurate and balanced reporting. Journalism is today being suffocated by highly choreographed and curated pseudo press conferences,” the GPA said.

At these events, the association added that journalists are virtually barred from or told in advance that there will be no follow-up questions. It noted that as recent as 30th December 2025, a so-called panel of pro-government questioners and students was put together to ask the president ‘likeable’ questions.

“Officialdom’s only objective is to avoid as much as possible searching questions. A phone interview or face-to-face semi media scrum on the side-lines of a major event is no substitute for a free and unrestricted press conference that allows for a wide variety of subjects to be addressed. These are lame excuses for media access,” the statement read.

Backsliding

The key weekly feature of the People’s Progressive Party Civic-led administration when it came to power in 1992 was its weekly post-cabinet press conference. This has died and with it a certain blow to transparency and public accountability. Guyana stands out as a sore thumb in the Caribbean Community when it comes to post-cabinet and Heads of Government press conferences.

According to the GPA, apparently, this has been substituted with a weekly (up to recently) diatribe, for the most part, by the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) at his political party’s headquarters.

“As if it is now official government policy that is extended beyond the Cabinet, the Guyana Police ranging from the Commissioner of Police to his Deputies, the Public Relations Officer and the Office of Professional Responsibility have now opted not to respond to questions from the media in the Joint Services media WhatsApp group. The incontrovertible evidence is there as solid proof. The result is a Guyana Police Force, most likely in complicity with or permission of the government. That is unaccountable to Guyanese whom the media serve because they are expected to provide accurate, timely and relevant information.”

The GPA said when it comes to the governance of the State, particularly in the arena of information management and access, the PPPC administration appears to have devised a plan to use capitalism as the gateway to Stalinism.

“If the government believes this is accurate, then the GPA challenges the PPPC-led administration to remove Retired Justice Charles Ramson from the post of Information’s Commissioner and allow the Access To Information mechanism to function effectively.

Sadly, there are elements in the private sector, who, either fought for democracy pre-1992 or are today beneficiaries of the largesse of the State one way or another, who actually are co-conspirators against press freedom. In fact, one private sector actor is on record as offering to hatch a plan against the privately-owned Stabroek News newspaper. He might have been better off advocating for the government to honour its debt to the newspaper whose company is a long-standing member of a private sector organisation,” the statement read.

Penultimately, the GPA said it will be paying keen attention to whether the Guyana government intends to use the Australian model on social media access by minors as the precursor to or the basis for tightening control on journalistic content or broadly fetter freedom of expression for its narrow political objectives. In conclusion, the GPA said it will continue to be active in the fight for openness and transparency in support of quality journalism.

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• GPA, Guyana Police Force, information, journalism

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