Dear Editor,
I have been planning for a while now to let you know that the internet version of Stabroek News has vastly improved in the last six months, and apart from finding it a lot easier to navigate, I also found that its home page gives readers a synopsis of almost all areas that might be of interest.
A few years ago, I recommended that, apart from local news, SN consider carrying both regional and international news rather than simply availing links to regional and international newspapers. After all, if your regular newspaper has local, regional and international news, why shouldn’t the internet version provide readers with all the major news in the world? Thanks for making the internet version of SN easier to navigate, and always educational, informative and entertaining.
Second, I read all three Guyana’s major dailies to keep abreast of what is happening in Guyana. But of the three, though, only Stabroek News actually allows for the views or opinions of ordinary people to be shared on a particular topic in ‘What the people say.’ And this is so very valuable and laudable, it should be emulated by the other dailies, though I am not sure the Guyana Chronicle can afford to stomach to know what Guyanese think of the PPP and its government.
Anyway, after constantly reading people’s opinion on a single topic in ‘What the people say,’ which I believe is a helpful way of getting people to open up on issues, I think the time has come for there to be a permanent instant or pulse polling centre that can produce surveys or questionnaires on specific subjects to which a cross-section of Guyanese at home can respond or answer. The only person who previously provided some semblance of polling was Vishnu Bisram and his NACTA organization, but he has since been proven too controversial to be deemed reliable or credible, and he also strangely shied away from polling Guyanese on hot button issues.
Working with a private polling centre, private media houses and other private institutions can put forward ideas that they want public feedback on, and use the feedback to gauge public opinion so they can shape messages or redefine approaches or even products and services. The responses and answers can also be used to help politicians and other civil society decision-makers to tailor their actions or decisions to meet the thinking of the majority.
As a frequent reader of the CNN website, I have fun participating in its ‘Quick Vote’ interactive session where I can check to see how many other voters agree or disagree with my own thinking on the issue of the moment. It may be something that SN might want to consider in the absence of an independent instant polling centre, and the topic or issue could be drawn from a news development of the day. It can last for an entire day or it can last for a limited time to allow other topics or issues to be voted on, or there may be a short series of related questions.
Here is an example of a question for the day: “Do you agree government should allow parliament to openly discuss the CLICO (GY) collapse involving $6B of private money? ‘Yes’ or ‘No!’” After the voter clicks either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and then clicks on the ‘submit’ icon, the voting results to date are immediately shown.
Other sample questions: “Would you support the President in a third term bid?”; “Do you favour a shared governance arrangement among parliamentary parties and civil society organizations?”; “Do you believe there is deliberate discrimination in dealing with criminality in Guyana?” Over time, your newspaper can get enough information for news stories, editorials and commentaries that may be a pulse of the people captured in your quick vote system. And you can also set up your system whereby the same IP address is not used more than once in the voting process.
By the way, you ought to also be commended for your ‘Readers Comments,’ which not only require a great deal of patience and time on the part of your moderator, but also provide readers with the opportunity to respond with opinions and even interact with each other. Sometimes I am amazed at the huge number of responses to certain topics in letters, news items, editorials, etc, and even at the number of hits certain items have received. If it appears that many of us readers/letter writers take for granted the many times our letters were published and are not paying attention to the fine work SN is doing, please note that we really can’t put a dollar figure on such a priceless effort by SN, so please be informed that we are grateful.
Thanks again for being an effective ‘Fourth Estate’ player/member in Guyana!
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
