FUNDING for the resuscitated Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) has been secured, according to Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon, in a response to queries by the Guyana Chronicle. Dr. Luncheon, who is also head of GECOM, as it relates to the Commission being a budget agency, yesterday said, “My understanding is that the monies have been secured.”

Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr. Steve Surujbally, also confirmed this yesterday, during a telephone interview with this newspaper.
He disclosed too that some US$100,000 has been sourced from international donors and is expected to be released to the Commission shortly.

“The international donors may construct a pool and hand the resources over to GECOM from that pool, or they may deal with GECOM bilaterally. The manner in which this is to be done is still to be decided,” Dr. Surujbally said.
The primary donors, he added, are the European Union (EU) and Canada, via the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Progress with the sourcing of funding for the MMU, initially established in 2001, followed GECOM’s submission of a completed budget to Dr. Luncheon.
EXCLUSIVE LOOK
Also, the Guyana Chronicle was able to secure an exclusive look at the Commission’s 2015 project proposal, which details the operations of the MMU, over a five-month period.
The Unit’s activities, according to the document, will include:
* Daily monitoring of Guyana’s mainstream print and broadcast media for conformity to best practices associated with professional journalism;
* Informing media practitioners in a timely manner of instances of breaches;
* The production of period reports on the Unit’s findings on media practitioners’ compliance;
* Compiling archival information on local media purposes for referencing purposes; and
* Providing informational and other support to GECOM’s Public Relations Department.
These are in addition to other undertakings which are outlined in a work plan for the Unit.
“The MMU intends to serve as a bulwark against the purveying of any form of extremism in the media that threatens to derail the electoral processes,” the project proposal said.
Additionally, the document underscored the objectives of the above stated activities of the Unit, once it is fully back into operation, including to: promote the maintenance of the highest professional standards in the media during the upcoming General and Regional Elections; nurture a responsible media environment that is supportive of the country’s democratic processes; facilitate the building of harmonious relationships between and among GECOM, the media, the Government, political parties and civil society – a relationship that results in peaceful elections; and to positively influence the process of self-regulation by local media practitioners.
“(The goal of the MMU) is to contribute to the creation and maintenance of a media environment that is conducive to, and supportive of, the democratic processes in Guyana,” the project proposal said.
IMPORTANT
The document also points out that a vital aspect of GECOM’s preparations for the smooth running-off of the upcoming May 11 General and Regional Elections is the timely resuscitation of the MMU, considering that the Unit encourages and influences responsible and democratic media behaviour in the lead-up to the polls.
“The MMU’s value to GECOM and the nation is that it is a necessary tool during election periods to keep partisan reporting of election-related issues to a minimum; rein in those elements of the media fraternity inclined towards irresponsibility and recklessness; promote equality, fairness and balance in news reporting; and to discourage the publication of media content that is racially inciting, socially and politically divisive, inflammatory, unsubstantiated, and generally against the national good,” the document said.
Given the MMU’s role, the project document also detailed the expected outcomes of the MMU’s undertakings.
Measurable qualitative improvement in media reporting of social, political, electoral and governance issued during the 2015 election period topped the list of the six primary expected outcomes of the Unit’s operations.
The Media Monitoring Unit was revitalised in 2006 and since has come to be “accepted as an objective and credible arbiter” – as the document highlighted – of media practices.

(By Vanessa Narine)