The Government Information Agency (GINA) last evening said that the Guyana Press Association (GPA) did not have locus standi to “determine the nature of the coverage as determined by the executive”.
It was reacting to the association’s attack on the government and the army for locking out reporters from the opening session of the military officers’ conference on Thursday.
The GPA had criticized President Bharrat Jagdeo and the army in a statement on Thursday after the media were debarred from covering the function. In a statement GINA said that the GPA over the last few years has had the misfortune of using vitriolic remarks not in the interest of Guyanese people. The agency said that the association of recent has consistently demonstrated a gratuitous, malevolent and derisive attitude towards the Commander-in-Chief and the high commanders of the security forces.
“We wish to state that the Government of Guyana has always supported the freedom of the press which was fought for and won with the return of democracy in 1992.” The agency said that the exclusion of the media from the interaction by Jagdeo with the officers of the army cannot be seen as censorship since all matters of national consequence are reported to the media in a timely manner. According to the GINA statement there was no need to deflect attention from issues facing the army since both the high command of the Guyana Defence Force and Jagdeo conduct regular press briefings where serious matters facing the security forces are ventilated. GINA said to equate the request to give only photo coverage of the occasion with a return to the 70s and 80s when the press was reduced to self-censorship, due to fear of reprisals from the ruling party, demonstrated a sense of social unawareness on the part of the GPA. GINA noted that the presence of over 20 television stations, three daily newspapers and numerous weekly and monthly publications that publicise their views without any restrictions from the state is an indication of the government’s commitment to freedom of expression. The agency further noted that it was not unusual in democracies for the media to be allowed only photographic coverage of the head of state’s engagements, citing what obtains in the US and the UK. GINA said the GPA will do a good service to Guyana if it refocuses its attention to addressing the journalistic skills within the fraternity.
The army and the Office of the President had dispatched media advisories on Wednesday inviting media houses, as is customary, to “cover the first session of the GDF 2008 Annual Officers’ Conference”. The GDF advisory, which this newspaper received, further advised the media to report to Camp Ayanganna by 09:30 hrs for a briefing before the scheduled 09:50 opening of the conference. The Office of the President’s advisory said the media were invited to cover Jagdeo’s address. While media workers who showed up to cover the event were setting up their equipment for the start of the conference, Major Daniels of the GDF who said he was now the officer in charge of Public Relations advised that they could only take pictures of the President posing with his officers. He further advised media workers that the media were not being allowed to cover the President’s address and should leave the compound after taking pictures. The GPA had said that if it was the intention of the organizers not to allow full coverage of the event then they should not have invited the media or they should have stated that the event was only for a photo opportunity. The GPA also said the truly serious news agencies here are not interested in photo-ops and political grandstanding, charging that the agencies were not public relations outfits for the state and the army.
Courtesy
Meanwhile, in an invited comment President of the GPA Denis Chabrol said that the undiluted fact of the matter is that the press was invited to provide “full coverage,” rather than a photo opportunity. He said when they arrived they were then told to take a group photograph and leave. “This is certainly not the level of courtesy that we would expect from the Presidential Secretariat and the Guyana Defence Force,” Chabrol said. He added that it could not be mere coincidence when the media were excluded in a similar manner from previous Officers’ Conferences of the army and Guyana Police Force. “There is clearly an undeniable trend with regards to President Jagdeo’s preference for the coverage of the security sector and so the media are being treated in a shoddy manner,” the press body head said. According to him the GPA agrees with the Guyana government that the journalistic skills of many media practitioners need to be enhanced but he said that the association would like the government to ascertain and tell the nation transparently why a section of the State Media was instructed not to participate in the last GPA workshop that was conducted by a trained and widely experienced media professional. “Let us not forget that it is
