Jagdeo says press body like the ‘new opposition in Guyana’

President Bharrat Jagdeo says the Guyana Press Association (GPA) is like the “new opposition in Guyana” following its protest actions against the ban imposed on Capitol News journalist Gordon Moseley.

The President’s words have since attracted the ire of the association which has now withdrawn from the Crime Stoppers Board of Directors in which it had been invited by the government to participate.

The association in a release on Thursday night after the airing of the president’s comment on NCN Channel 11 said that any future engagement with the Crime Stoppers group would be subject to a review of the existing media climate.

According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) release the president in an interview on NCN on Thursday said he did not have much time to waste on comments being made by Caribbean and local media persons on the banning of the journalist and he was adamant “that some reporters are totally biased against the Government.”
The move to ban Moseley has been strongly criticised by regional and international journalists, including the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) and Reporters Without Borders.

Following the ban, which was made known to Moseley on Monday last, the association issued a statement condemning the move and wrote to President Jagdeo offering to mediate the issue. The association also staged protest actions which saw reporters walking out of a press briefing at the Ministry of Home Affairs and walking out of parliament as Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh rose to address the House. The reporters also wore red arm bands at parliament as a sign of protest.

“We have a press association that has demonstrated its bias against the Government on numerous occasions. In fact, it is even more hostile to the Government than the opposition party. It is like the new opposition in Guyana and they consistently mislead the international community. They did this on several occasions,” GINA quoted the president as saying.

“I don’t have time to waste on people like Gordon Moseley. Access to this office is a privilege and I will extend that privilege to ordinary people, not to some people who, regardless of what you do, only see the negatives and they’re looking for the next story,” the president further said.

However, the association asserted that since the president’s personal efforts, in the face of mounting local, regional and international pressure and outcries, have been rebuffed he is now seeking to cover his failure by discrediting the intensifying protest action.

Falsehoods
The association charged that GINA, “acting on political commands has resorted to a propaganda attack of falsehoods against the GPA after two days of telephone appeals to a number of members of the media for Mr. Moseley to write `a few lines’ clarifying what he meant in his letter by `fed up’ or to issue an apology.”  The association said that President Jagdeo on Wednesday contacted the President of the GPA, Denis Chabrol on the matter, “who is now being labelled an Opposition Force because the president’s actions have not borne fruit. Being unable to crush the protest actions by media workers, GINA has resorted to attacking the messengers of the successful clarion call.” “We shall not flinch one inch!! The existing doors of opportunity that the GPA had left open in its statement issued on Wednesday for a possible rapprochement that could have led to a serious and sober discourse on relations between the state and the media have now been shut as a result of the GINA statement,” the association said.

The association also called on its members and supporters not to be intimidated by the “utterances associated with the government and, instead, gird our loins for the long haul.”
The association labelled the utterances included in the GINA release as being “wicked and malicious”, adding that the “baseless fabrication is an attempt to discredit our protest action that has been forcing several cancellations of ministerial and other engagements with the media.”

“Rather than devote their time and energy to concoct an excuse for banning journalist Gordon Moseley, President Bharrat Jagdeo would be better off lifting the ban unconditionally,” the association declared.

In the GINA release the president said that he has had meetings with ordinary people, mentioning Thursday’s meeting with the religious leaders in Buxton and the Foulis Housing Co-op Society, adding that those are the people who will have the privilege of visiting his office.

Privilege
“They have more right, not so much of a privilege… what we have in this country is a syndrome where many very powerful people in our society ‘suck-up’ to reporters because they’re afraid of bad press. They call them and they treat them well… I don’t care whether Gordon Moseley or others write bad things about me, once it’s objective, it’s fine and even if it’s not objective, I don’t pay too much attention to it,” the head of state said.

“I have to meet with ordinary people to try and solve their problems. I am not going to ‘suck-up to this group of people, so nothing that we do in this Government, the PPP Government or I do, will find a favourable voice in some of these reporters. They’re hostile. They see themselves as anti-government media and they will try to make a story out of even the most positive thing,” President Jagdeo said.

“Mr. Jagdeo, who is well-known for his botched and blemished history of transgressions against the media and media operatives, in the state and private sector cannot easily escape the sad reality that those political actions of his warrant the strongest response. We agree that media workers are opposing forces in response to his actions against the media. Does the president expect media workers in this country not to oppose his actions that date back to when he was Finance Minister?” the association queried. Meanwhile, in a release Press and Publicity Officer at OP, Kwame Mc Coy singled out Chabrol as the one from whose bosom “inexorable hatred” emanates.  He said that it is common and customary practice for the GPA to “selectively distort, mislead and fabricate stories even at the expense of further tarnishing the image and reputation of the association.” He said Chabrol should strive “to be objective and stop masquerading around promoting anti-government sentiments.” 

In a comment on the situation yesterday afternoon, Stabroek News (SN) Editor Anand Persaud condemned the attacks by President Jagdeo and GINA on Chabrol and the press association. Persaud said the banning of Moseley by GINA was completely unwarranted and wholly unjustified. The SN Editor said that Chabrol and the press association are defending the profession from the kind of attack which could be used arbitrarily by the government against other practitioners if not nipped in the bud. Persaud added that President Jagdeo’s likening of the GPA to the opposition was most regrettable and said the controversy could best be ended by the lifting of the ban on Moseley. Moseley was first told he was banned from Office of the President and State House by a security guard at OP when he turned up for an assignment last Monday. He later received a letter signed by Head of the Government Information Agency (GINA) Neaz Subhan stating that the administration of GINA had withdrawn his accreditation to OP and State House with immediate effect. The letter said that though other employees of Capitol News would not be similarly prohibited, GINA would be “inclined to review the decision providing that you issue an apology in relation to the disparaging and disrespectful remarks couched in your letter to the press.”

Moseley has since refused to apologise saying that he would not allow anyone to “waste his time.” He has also questioned what accreditation GINA was withdrawing since no accreditation had ever been given to him or any other media worker for OP and State House. The only accreditation GINA has issued to the media is a press pass that gives journalists permission to go past police cordons.