Press freedom in the Caribbean
experienced and well-respected Caribbean journalist and Guyana-born, Rickey Singh, strongly condemns the move to pull advertising, stating:
“My deep disappointment in the decision to cut off the flow of advertisements from the Stabroek News is rooted in my own awareness that whatever real or perceived “bias” there may be, the right to dissent is at the core of freedom of the media in a functioning democratic state, which Guyana is internationally recognised to be.
So long as that right is expressed within constitutional parameters and not abused to violate the freedom of others, it must not be stifled in any section of the mass media.”
“Much of this controversy about media bias, a charge that often erupts also in other CARICOM jurisdictions, has to do with party politics in a multi-party parliamentary democracy. But in the current controversy over withdrawal of advertisements from the Stabroek News, it is clearly a misguided decision that should never have been made…
Today’s governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP), currently in its fourth successive term, and with a proud record of significant recognisable economic, social and cultural achievements, has now tarnished its reputation with that inept, short-sighted decision to cut off advertisement to the Stabroek News.
‘Economics and impact maximisation’ was the official reason initially advanced by the Government Information Agency (GINA) for withdrawing advertisements from the Stabroek News and to continue placing them in the two other daily newspapers - the Guyana Chronicle and the privately owned Kaieteur News. The latter is reputed to have the largest circulation.
Not unexpectedly, deCaires (publisher and editor-in-chief of the Stabroek News) lost no time in rejecting what he described as a “contrived and fictitious” explanation for what he feels to really be a “politically motivated” decision.
As one of the Guyanese-born journalists who had been dislocated by the “party paramountcy” doctrine of the Burnhamist era, and had to leave Guyana back in 1974 to continue my profession, I am distressed by this “advertisement politics” of the Jagdeo administration. I strongly disagree with it and good judgment must lead to its speedy reversal.
To start with, as President Jagdeo’s advisers should know, there is a difference between reducing or varying the amount of advertisements to any section of the print or electronic media by a government and withdrawing such advertisements altogether.”
Newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago have not been accused of hiding political corruption. Indeed, the media has borne accusations of biasness, the most conspicuous being a legal war between former CEO of CCN Communications, Ken Gordon, and former Prime Minister and recently convicted political stalwart, Basdeo Panday. The media and politicians are often at loggerheads, especially since politicians often can bear the negative publicity brunt of reporting. A prime example of this also occurs in Jamaica. Long-time journalist, Ken Chaplin credits the Jamaican media’s work, as being responsible for decreasing the success of any propaganda machinery, especially by that of any Jamaican Government, “now or in the future”.
In a 2001 article, Lisa Allen-Agostini – Assistant Features Editor at the Trinidad Guardian - relays her perception of press freedom in Trinidad and Tobago. She states that freedom of the press is limited by factors, which include:1. The subject must be a public figure.
2. The story must be true.
3. The information divulged must be in the public interest.
“It’s more complex than that but in deciding whether to pursue a story or not those are the first things a reporter and editor have to consider”, she says. According to Allen-Agostini, “the press should be free to report things that concern the people, and that includes military issues”. She notes that in Trinidad and Tobago, government control over information given to the media is tight. Allen-Agostini notes:
“Press freedom in my home country is a right we take for granted, but there is certainly not freedom of the press there the way it’s understood in the United States… Reporters and editors soldier on, but it’s hard to get information when your sources feel they’ll lose their jobs if they talk to the press, and when official information is thin on the ground.
There is much to be thankful for: we aren’t physically threatened (except in one memorable case when reporters were pelted with cups and such at a political rally) and our lives aren’t in danger. We aren’t locked up when we print information the Government doesn’t want out. (Although there are a couple of exceptions here, too: An editor and a reporter were jailed briefly during a big trial a few years ago because they defied a muzzling order imposed by the court.) We are pressured more by business than government. It’s not unusual for a paper to decide against running a story because the story would put a big advertiser in a bad light. My home paper (Trinidad Guardian) has lost much of its credibility because it’s prohibited from breaking bad news about any of the other subsidiary companies in the group (which includes several influential companies in diverse fields, not just media). It’s an argument that’s hard to disagree with, posed by the detractors: At times we are the PR newsletter for the Ansa-McAl group of companies, the Trinidad Guardian’s parent company. In a small country it must be inevitable to face those pressures I suppose…”
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