-four media operatives bore the brunt yesterday
THE ENFORCEMENT of stringent security measures by the Office of the President for media operatives seeking to gain access to the cover press events there yesterday saw some being turned away. Among those falling victim to the imposition which decrees that operatives must have  a Government Information Agency (GINA) accreditation pass in their possession when covering assignments at OP, such as Head of the Presidential Secretariat’s Dr. Roger Luncheon’s weekly post-Cabinet press briefings, were Gary Eleazer of the Kaieteur News, Colin Smith of the BBC, and  two representatives from the Guyana Times.
Responding to a query on the incident during the briefing, Dr. Luncheon categorically stated that media operatives who fail to subscribe to the rules regarding accreditation will not be allowed entry into the Office of the President, and “presumably, any other media event.”
He went on to say: “I don’t believe that there would be any option provided to attend presidential beat to be welcomed at press events  at the Office of the President; you have to be accredited.
“And we are not going to surrender the accreditation to anybody, any firm, or any entity other than the one that has been prescribed, and that is GINA.
“And so, as is consistent with what I suspect prevails elsewhere, the State indeed identifies  and certifies the media and media practitioners who would gain access to events  or accredited to institutions, organs and offices.”
Remarking that he foresees a logical evolvement of the situation, Dr. Luncheon expressed the hope that a  rule  of “if you don’t have GINA accreditation, then you won’t access media events hosted by the State, not only OP, State House or on the Presidential beat,  but any of the Government departments, agencies and suchlike” will officially be implemented.
Late last month, Eleazer, who was wearing a Guyana Press Association (GPA) media pass; Chronicle’s reporter, Johann Earle; and Vishal Seokumar, National Communications Network (NCN)’s Studio Supervisor, were denied entry to OP because of not having the required GINA pass.
And following a report on the issue in the Kaieteur News, Press and Publicity Officer to the President, Mr. Kwame Mc Koy, in seeking to clarify the issue, noted: “GINA is the officially designated agency for accrediting media personnel on application from their media houses, and the media passes are countersigned by the Police Commissioner.”
McKoy said it has been a long-established rule that media practitioners, including reporters and cameramen, visiting the Office of the President and State House on assignment, are required to present their GINA press passes to security officials for entry into any of the aforementioned premises.
He said that the Kaieteur News, like all the other media houses, is fully aware of such a ruling, and that those media operatives who succeeded in gaining entry was on account of their presenting their GINA press passes.
Mc Koy also said at the time that Kaieteur News’ declaration that it was “not recognising GINA press passes shows that Mr. Eleazer was fully aware that his objective was to challenge the system.
“The media is no law unto itself. If we are to set standards then Kaieteur News must follow the rules of the game,” Mc Koy added