These gruesome pictures crossed the line of serious journalism

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News’s gruesome and shocking images of the victims of the Lusignan killing displayed on its front page, crossed the line of decency and serious journalism. The newspaper may argue that its readership increases when such graphic images are printed. However, a quick reader-pole showed that even though this may be partially true, readers were turned off by the disrespect demonstrated by the posting of the pictures.

Readers complained that their appetite was lost after viewing the images online and expressed disgust that the Guyana Press Association seems unwilling to caution the news media for crossing the line of acceptable journalistic decency.

The newspaper says that they were contacted by “fineman” Rawlins who confessed to the Lusignan killings.

Since there was no mention of the confession being an allegation, perhaps Kaieteur News can let the public know how they were able to positively identify the caller to be “fineman Rawlins”? A responsible media house would have ensured that the call was authenticated before a positive report was put out to the public.

Yours faithfully,

Berkeley Van Bowen