MY attention has been brought to a recent so called news item in the Stabroek News, (headlined “Drunken crew sails Easter boat ride into troubled waters” April 9, 2010). This piece of unsubstantiated hearsay maligns the character of the captain and his crew. From what is written, the MV Makouria was on an excursion trip and returning from Bartica to Parika last Sunday. In the so called story, two or three “passengers” and a “Parika resident” were quoted as saying that the skipper was drunk and endangered the safety of those on board by meandering over the river and going too close to shore.
Tellingly, no scientific evidence is provided for the charges in the so called story. Not one name is cited.
I have travelled on this trip over many years. Sometimes the vessel has to change course to stay within a channel and avoid underwater obstacles. Sometimes it goes quite close to shore.
I have had nothing but courtesies from the several captains over the years when, as a visitor from Barbados and a former merchant seaman, I am permitted up on the bridge (control area on vessel) for some old sailor’s talk. There may be challenges here and there in the Transport and Harbours Department (which operates the vessel) but a newspaper must be credible and get it’s facts right. It must not depend on hearsay from people, who appear not to understand maritime affairs, just to produce a sensationalist item to pander to the ill informed and compete with another crime news-oriented tabloid.
Who gave the editor responsible at the Stabroek News the right to publicly malign the character of the hard working Department staff in this unprofessional way?
Both captain and crew have a good case in receiving damages from the paper plus having an apology printed on front page.
A couple weeks ago, in another so called news story about a man found dead on a bridge (on a road), the same paper effectively said his wife was drunk. The paper also falsely blared in the headline that the husband had been murdered (he was later found to have a heart attack). Naturally, the so called story was riddled with “residents said” (how many we don’t know and almost all one sided to suit the main mayhem and chaos centered thrust of the item). Typically too, no definitive statement from the police investigating the matter was carried.
When will the authorities in Guyana have a proper functioning press council, with punitive measures, to stop this type of irresponsibility in the newspapers?
The reading public deserves better. This is why a country, experiencing ongoing progress and development, must always have a publicly owned media. It must have it to give a well rounded view. It must have it to, hopefully, influence a sensationalist private media sacrificing principles under market pressures.