Friday Musings
IT’S a very funny, funny world and even funnier in the world of politics.

Take the recent `street protests’ around Georgetown.

Not so long ago, while I was Editor-in-Chief at the Guyana Chronicle, I was also the target of thousands of street protesters organised by the People’s National Congress Reform in their campaign against the government.

By definition in the world of journalism, those were protests that had to be taken note of by mainstream media because of the sheer numbers and the concern the proceedings triggered in wider society.

Those were the days when news of PNCR protesters on the streets of Georgetown had owners of stores and other business places rushing to barricade their buildings against looters and there were regular clashes with the police trying to keep order.

So reporters and photographers and news crews tracked them – sometimes to their detriment because sometimes the protesters did not want some of their street excursions to be too publicized.

But, by their size and the concern they spawned, those protests were news events.

News people often operate by the maxim that if a dog bites a man, it’s not news; but if a man bites a dog it’s news. It’s often about the unusual.

That maxim, however, seems to have gone to the dogs and a three-man street protest on a street corner in Georgetown which hardly anybody pays any mind, becomes a big news event.

And then a motley group of about 30 PNCR members and supporters begins parading around the city for a few days, drawing very little support and playing hide-and-seek with the police.

And guess what? It’s big news for some media houses. The same set of people, going to the same set of places for a few days with the same set of placards, shouting the same set of slogans, and it’s front page, prime time news. Over and over.

I overheard a woman walking with a man and child asking `What they protesting for?’

The man’s answer was “Good question.”

Funny, funny world, huh?

For some media houses, no one bothered to inquire into the `credentials’ of this group.

Some persons openly wondered whether they were employed but no one heard them shouting about not getting jobs. Their protest slogans had nothing to do about the impact of the global financial crisis on countries like Guyana.

But their meanderings warranted big coverage for some media.

And then there was a small protest Wednesday outside the law offices of the leaders of the Alliance For Change (AFC) party and some media watchers are asking about their credentials.

The credentials about the protesters and not the protest became the news. And judging from a photo in one newspaper, that protest was bigger than the three-man affair I have seen covered on some so-called TV newscasts.

Maybe the smaller the protest, the bigger is the news for some Guyanese media.

News seems to be going to the dogs. And you know dogs sometimes hunt in packs, right?

It’s a funny, funny world.

And it’s even funnier in politics. Like the `big news’ reported this week by some media that Mr. Robert Corbin confirmed he’s running for leadership of his party. Well, duh?

So what else is he interested in? Qualifying as an Olympics marathon runner for Guyana?

And then there were charges and denials about fraud and rigging in the PNCR electoral machinery for the biennial congress starting today. He! He!

It’s a funny world, eh?