Dear Editor,
I know the current administration is quite capable of successfully mounting its own defense against the tabloid-styled reportage in certain sections of the media.
Nonetheless, I wish to address the patently false narrative that the publication continues to foist on Guyanese on a daily basis with regard to the relationship between the Government, citizens, and the media.
I have found that the current administration has greatly facilitated and successfully engaged both the media and the public.
For instance, there are by far more press conferences facilitated by President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali when compared to former President David Grainger. I can still recall the bold headlines in the press complaining about the lack of press conferences by the former president.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has taken a similar approach when it comes to hosting press conferences. He has even appeared on the Glenn Lall Show.
Other Ministers of Government are accessible to the media at public events and are often times quoted in media articles as being contacted for comment.
We are witnessing a dedicated focus by the President to engage with Guyanese directly using social media and in recent months by taking the Office of the President to the people in various communities.
From all reports, the President’s approach is working.
Therefore, one is led to believe that there is a concerted attempt to dismantle and detract from the successful engagements based on the reportage from a news outlet.
Further, the newspaper appears unhappy with the fact that its principals cannot dictate to the Government how to conduct the affairs of the country. The publication may not like the answers that the PPP/C leaders are giving or the fact that the Government is defending its policies and decision-making.
However, this does not give the media entity and others carte blanche to continue the unscrupulous coverage of Government events. The Leonora press conference is a prime example.
KN made the false claim that supporters were heckling and intimidating its reporters at the state-sponsored Presidential outreach.
This lie was concocted to fit the publication’s anti-Government narrative. What scientific method was adopted by the agents of the newspaper to determine that residents attending the press conference were actually PPP supporters?
Then entity enlisted in its scheme, the President of the Guyana Press Association (GPA), Nazima Raghubir. Raghubir is no doubt trying to secure her own re-election as head of the GPA at its upcoming election. In her haste to attribute equal political blame, she equated the Leonora press conference to a previously held press conference at Congress Place, the PNC’s headquarters, where a group of confirmed PNC party members led by the infamous Carol Joseph heckled reporters.
The two incidents are not the same. The President’s press conference was not a PPP/C event. The media engagement was called by the President to provide information to the country following two days of meetings with residents of Region 3.
When an examination of the issue is done, one can conclude that the true intentions of the newspaper and the GPA’s President were to deflect from the successful Presidential outreach to Leonora where residents from all ethnicities and political persuasions had the opportunity to meet with the President and his team to have their long-standing issues resolved.
Regards,
Erin Northe
