At a recent media workshop organized by the George-town Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the Guyana Press Association (GPA) both the Junior Vice President of the Chamber Terrence Holder and Vice Chairman of the Private Sector Commission Yog Mahadeo commented on what they felt was the dearth of reporting on matters of business and finance in the local media. Mr. Holder felt that part of the reason for this inhered in the local media tradition of turning out “generalists” rather than “specialists.” He made the point too that if this was to change the University of Guyana’s media training regimen needed to paint with a broader brush – so to speak. Mr. Mahadeo wanted to see more ‘strategic alliances” between the media and the business community” and made reference to initiatives that are apparently unfolding within the PSC, presumably, to forge such alliances.
Both Mr. Holder and Mr. Mahadeo, it appears, felt that it was the media that had to do more to enhance business reporting. Specifically, Mr. Holder said that he felt that the contemporary generation of business leaders is more “open,” more “approachable.” Unfortunately, perhaps with a few exceptions, we beg to differ. Our experience has been that most businessmen are media shy and that if and when they engage the media they seek to do so on their own terms which, sometimes are so restrictive that it makes getting a decent story as painful as pulling teeth.
Never mind the excuse given by some businessmen that journalists cannot be trusted to present business information accurately. If it is true that local media training still takes too little account of issues of business and finance, what is also true is that many businessmen enterprises care little for what they regard as intrusive journalists. We believe that one of the reasons why some business enterprises prefer to avoid the media has to do with a mindfulness of not finding themselves in situations in which they might make public utterances that offend the powers that be. Of course, few ever admit this openly but one can gauge their concerns from their responses to those questions that have to do with relationships between the state and the private sector. Interviews with some businessmen have been known to go all wrong when questions are raised about issues deemed to be sensitive; questions that have to do with issues like bureaucratic barriers to foreign investment; corruption at the GRA and high taxation rates and quite a few others. The reason for their inhibition on these particular issues has to do with the government’s propensity for mouthing off on both the media and the private sector for – as we say – wrong-talking. One of the better recent examples of this is the amazing outburst by Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh in response to an article and an editorial printed in this newspaper some weeks ago, based on an Economist Intelligence Unit Report. Outbursts like Dr. Singh’s do not go unnoticed in the private sector and the next time you engage a businessman you can bet that he will proceed with greater caution. There are, of course, a few exceptions to the rule – businessmen who are much more prepared to provide honest answers to questions that seek neither to exaggerate any circumstance nor to sweep any issue under the carpet. Those, however, are few and far between, an endangered species. The vast majority of businessmen are ultra cautious about engaging the media and that is simply a fact of life.
It is much the same with some state agencies that are concerned with business and investment – they function behind thick drapes of secrecy that authorize only the very highest ranking functionaries to engage the media – if and when they do. It is not easy, for example, to secure in a timely manner, information that has a critical bearing on business reporting from state agencies like the Bank of Guyana and the Bureau of Statistics. Everything, it seems has to be politically vetted and given the appropriate media ‘spin’ before it eventually reaches the press, a circumstance which often gives rise to queries and clarifications some of which are never responded to.
This, of course, is not to say that the call by Messrs. Holder and Mahadeo for more reportage on business and financial issues should not be taken seriously or that Mr. Holder’s observation regarding the lack of formal business training for journalists is not entirely valid. Reputable financial and business journals like the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist are sustained by a plethora of specialists that work for them. Here, it is either a case of business and financial specialists choosing to write for these journals or cases of substantive journalists pursuing studies in finance and business specializations. Either way Mr. Holder is correct. Our media/journalism courses need to take greater account of the need to produce specialists in the various disciplines. That, however, is not the whole story. We believe that if the businesses were more forthcoming on many of the issues that correctly belong in the public domain a more mature culture of business reporting can be created even given the weaknesses that Mr. Holder correctly identifies.
