Dear Editor,
I am appalled at the lack of coverage by NCN Radio of activities to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
Events of this nature should of necessity be carried live by radio because it is still the cheapest and most widely accessed medium.
Can the Chief Executive Officer of NCN, Mr Mohamed Sattaur and Programme Director, Martin Goolsarran justify;
1. Why the Special Ceremony in honour of those who died in the Middle Passage and in resistance to slavery, which was organised by the Government of Guyana and the Caricom Secretariat, held on 25 March 2007 at Parliament Building was not carried live on radio?
2. Why the Commemoration of the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Trade in Captive Africans, which was held on 26 March 2007 at the National Cultural Centre, was not carried live on radio?
3. Why, instead, on 25 March 2007 NCN Radio saw it fit and correct to cover the Cheddi Jagan Fun Day at State House, even to the extent that you were upset that no announcer was immediately available for that event?
Where are your public service broadcasting priorities? Don’t your sins of omission and commission amount to gross partisanship and lip-service which President Jagdeo himself spoke out against at the National Cultural Centre.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Vasconcellos
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Mr Mohamed Sattaur, the Chief Executive Officer of NCN, for any comments he may wish to make.
