THE People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has declared that the merits/demerits of a Government-drafted media policy MUST first be publicly debated before any such policy is implemented.PPP/C General Secretary Clement Rohee was responding to Government’s recent indications that a media policy to regulate all media entities in Guyana is brewing.

Rohee disclosed that during that party’s time in Government, it had also hinted at the need for such a policy, but was rebutted by the then opposition — A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC).

Minister of State Joseph Harmon told a post-Cabinet media briefing on August 28 that “the media, as the Fourth Estate, is an important element in the governance of a country, and therefore it is not something you can touch or do (with) as you want.”

He noted that it was ‘early days’ yet, but said he believes that a policy would emerge. “But what we are saying now is that the media must act responsibly, and that if you are reporting on Government business, you must be fair, balanced, and objective.”

However, Rohee reminded that Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo had presented a document on freedom of the press in the early days of the PPP, and that one Mr. Rafeek Khan had been hired to do a study on the media in the country.

“So I’m keeping my powder dry and awaiting what the Government will come up with; and I hope they will take into consideration what was stated in those two documents,” Rohee said.

Nevertheless, he conceded, “I don’t agree that the media should have a free-for-all. The question of regulation in terms of the media is going to be a very sensitive issue; maybe it will have some constitutional impacts as well, and I hope that whatever comes out, it will be subject to public debate and discussion before anything is actually formalized and laid in the Parliament.”

But, in what appears to be a conflict of interest, Rohee revealed that freedom of the press in Guyana is sacrosanct; and, accordingly, the PPP/C is calling on the Guyana Press Association, the Caribbean Association of Media Workers and the International Press Institute, Reporters without Borders, and every other organization representing journalists worldwide to condemn these creeping attempts at suppressing freedom of the press in Guyana. (Navendra Seoraj)