Dear Sir,
IT IS no secret that Kaieteur News has been particularly weaponised against the APNU/AFC Coalition Government.
In fact, in the run up to the General and Regional Elections of March 2, 2020, it has been publishing almost only negative reports about the government. And it doesn’t matter that that newspaper totally neglects to adhere to the core principles of journalism, including: truth and accuracy, independence, fairness and impartiality, and accountability, it just merrily publishes whatever it wishes because it can and does get away with it, almost all of the time.
To be clear, no newspaper is obligated, in any way, to do public relations for any government; governments must hire effective Public Affairs (not public relations) personnel or companies to keep the public properly informed about its plans, projects and operations. I daresay that the incumbent government is woefully lacking in this area; it should strive to do better.
However, a survey of reports on elections and political activities in Guyana for the last three months (March, April and May of 2020) in Kaieteur News, would reveal that, essentially, that newspaper is steely pushing the political agenda of a certain political party. It has substantially more column inches of negative reports about APNU/AFC more than any other party in Guyana for that period. A noticeable percentage of those negative reports is on the leadership of APNU/AFC. But nothing is wrong with that; any privately- owned newspaper can pursue its own agenda and, in fact, support and promote any political party of its choice. However, that newspaper, if it chose to do so, must, in the interest of journalistic ethics, and the truth, let its readers know, up front, about its position; it should not masquerade as a national impartial newspaper, seeking to defend democracy, as Kaieteur News is unsuccessfully attempting to do while promote the interest of a particular political party in Guyana, to obtain political power.
One section of that newspaper that is used to do the dirty deed is the daily Freddie Kissoon Column. The things that are published in that Column, even as an opinion piece, is to say the least, disgusting and go against basic principles of ethical writing. It should be disqualified from being published; it is unhelpful to the democratic process, in this country; it is an abuse of space in the public sphere. People being called out of their names, social and political theories misapplied to current political and social situations, inaccuracies, guesses, and assumptions based upon illusions are really the DNA of that Column. How any right-thinking Guyanese can take this Column seriously? This remains a lingering thought in my mind.
But the owner of that newspaper can be excused, because he has no known formal training in media studies; he merely has the financial resources with which he owns that communication infrastructure. However, the reporters and journalists, who work there, must be held accountable to meet certain journalistic standards in their reporting the news. Then again, it is a question of “bread and butter” and even though reporters might be very aware of the failings of this newspaper, they, perhaps, may not want to challenge the owner for fear of losing their jobs.
Finally, what can anyone expect from Kaieteur News if the new Editor-in-Chief of that newspaper is an individual who was a senior member of a political party that contested the recent General and Regional Elections in Guyana. Certainly not impartially, fairness or accountability in reporting, especially, those reports that are concerned with elections and political activities.
Yours truly,
Gregory Howe
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_06_26_2020