Dear Editor,
The recent unfortunate death of David de Caires has left a void in the Stabroek News which would be difficult to fill. Who would pick up and carry on this important mantle of leadership? From recent indications, it appears that the credibility and courage of the newspaper has already taken a dive. The reason for my statement is that while I understand I do not dictate, and wish not to, the decisions of Stabroek News, I am baffled as to why the newspaper has been so reluctant to publish my views on the secession of Berbice.
I personally commend the paper for publishing one letter on Berbice secession. Nonetheless, in recent times, the newspaper has rejected many other letters. I thought Mr de Caires encouraged diverse and even radical views in the letter column. For the sake of basic human decency, could someone simply tell me why my letters on Berbice secession were rejected? What is Stabroek News afraid of? Did the editorial staff slip into a state of paranoia? What is now the new direction of the newspaper?
Yours faithfully,
Lomarsh Roopnarine
Editor’s note
Stabroek News has no new direction. As for Mr Roopnarine’s letters, we published the first; the second was not published and the third was received recently. Where the second is concerned, we operated according to a principle instituted by Mr de Caires himself, namely, that we do not carry letters which have already appeared in other sections of the press, and in this instance Mr Roopnarine’s letter was published in Kaieteur News on November 6. The third letter is very long, and recently we have not had the space to accommodate it. Other than the three letters referred to above, we do not know of the “many other letters” by Mr Roopnarine which have been rejected by this newspaper “in recent times.”
