– must issue clarification to save integrity
– according to Dr. Randy Persaud
Stabroek News must immediately admit it made a mistake regarding the CADRES poll and it must apologise to the Guyanese people forthwith. Anything else would be tantamount to uppity-cosmopolitan arrogance of the Lacytown variety. Let me be specific here. Calls have been made for the newspaper to reveal who commissioned the CADRES poll and who paid for it. Stabroek News has denied knowing the commissioner and/or the funder, all the while invoking the ‘line’ that the polling company does not usually reveal the identity of its clients.
But let us face it; something is terribly wrong at Stabroek News with the CADRES poll. It is so bad that I will now call it the ‘Stabroek News Poll Scandal’.
We should get to some evidence, because evidence is something that SN really insists on.
Stabroek News must explain the absolute contradictions on pages six and ten regarding the identity of the CADRES client. On page six, in an Editor’s note, SN says the following – “…We will say again that Mr. Wickham [of CADRES] told us it was a client’s decision whether they identified themselves or not as having commissioned a poll, and in this instance they did not wish their identity to be known’. The same Editor’s notes also states that “Since CADRES has declined to disclose who commissioned the poll, there is no point in pursuing the matter…”
So what we have here is that on page six of the Tuesday edition of the paper, SN is holding on to its ‘line’ of not knowing the identity of the commissioner (and funder) of the poll. But on page ten of the same Tuesday edition, there is an article under the title –‘Floyd Haynes of Newton Group commissioned CADRES poll.”
The article states the following –“Floyd Haynes, of the Washington-based Newton Group, has been identified as the person who commissioned the recent [CADRES] poll.”
Further, “Stabroek News has learnt that Haynes, who is married to former AFC MP Chantelle Smith, has also held discussion with several political parties here.”
Mind boggling; absolutely mind boggling.
Stabroek News must immediately clarify which of these two ‘stories’ readers must believe. I urge them to do so via a press release, because the stories are conflicting. Apart from the obvious embarrassment to Stabroek News, the nation must be relieved of conflicting information on a matter of national importance.
Incidentally, my office telephoned the AFC’s headquarters to find out about the status of Chantelle Smith in the party. A staffer by the name of Kristin (last name not given) said no one was there to answer the question. That call was placed at about 11:15 a.m. on June 8, 2010.
The nation awaits the clarification from Stabroek News and from the AFC, further the relationship among CADRES, the AFC, and Stabroek News.
PS. I am sending this letter to Stabroek News at 12:05. I hope the newspaper publishes it in the name of fair and balanced coverage.