I was recently asked by a national columnist to explain why is it that I publish letters in the independent dailies, (taken to be) Kaieteur News and Stabroek News. This question was asked of me because in the mind of the columnist there is a real contradiction with government people publishing in the independent dailies. Simply put, the contradiction is as follows: (1) President Jagdeo often criticizes the independent dailies, especially Kaieteur News; (2) despite these criticisms the ‘President’s men’ (taken to be myself and Dr Prem Misir) nonetheless publish in the independent dailies.
I want to state emphatically that I see no contradiction here. In this regard I offer the following arguments.
Guyana has great press freedom and the real proof of this can be found in the contents of all the independent dailies. Publishers and editors are under no constraint whatsoever regarding what they publish. Quite often, in fact on an almost daily basis, trumped-up charges against the cabinet, the President, and government as a whole are presented in some newspaper articles. Letter writers have a near universal free-for-all against the government. TV stations also work with practically no interference in this country.
Stabroek News and Kaieteur News both facilitate extraordinary access to writers whose columns and letters are conduits for baseless criticisms and personal attacks. In a recent letter in the former, for instance, one by the name of GHK Lall attacked the “image makers” (SN, December 27). No one in or out of Guyana knows who GHK Lall is. Despite that, he is allowed to carry on in daily poetic frenzies against the Government of Guyana. The image-maker articles clearly alluded to this writer. I can prove that. For its part, Kaieteur News columnist Frederick Kissoon is on record calling the PPP and the current administration of President Jagdeo “evil.”
I ask readers this: Which government in the world would not respond to these charges? I myself publish in Stabroek News and Kaieteur News precisely because the attacks noted above are made through these very newspapers. The dailies can and have in the past refused to publish some of my letters. That is their right and I respect it precisely because there is freedom of the press in Guyana. I actually have noticed a contradiction and I would like to get an answer to it. Why would a newspaper call a government ‘evil’ and then cry like a waterfall that it is not getting enough money from the same government through ads? Has it occurred to some of the columnists that their salaries are paid, in part, by government revenue through state ads?
What some people want is for the President, his cabinet, and others who support the government, to never say anything positive about the measurable development of this country. We should all stay silent and allow the ‘distortionists’ to have a field day. I close by noting that President Jagdeo has defended press freedom in the strongest possible terms. The President has lived up to his word. He is awaiting some fairness, balance, and accuracy from the independent dailies. Maybe we might get some in the New Year. Just maybe.
Yours faithfully,
Randy Persaud
Office of the President
