Sources reveal…
A Government source yesterday revealed that there has been secret meetings recently between officials from the privately-owned Stabroek News and Kaieteur News, along with other stakeholders with vested interests, as part of a plot to force the Government to revert to the old system of advertising in the print media. The latest revelation adds a new dimension to the recent fulminations by certain sections of the media, especially Stabroek News and Kaieteur News, as it relates to government’s move to place more state advertisements online while decreasing the amount placed in the print media.

According to the source, the Government refuses to be held hostage and held threat to blackmail by reversing the decision to move in this direction – largely because it is cost effective, it enhances public accountability and would serve to remove erroneous perceptions about tendering processes and contractual awards, among others.

Government has no intention, as those with vested interests have declared, to squeeze private media houses economically, because its mandate is not to make private businesses viable at taxpayers’ expense, which no Government in the world does, but instead to put systems in place that would more benefit the nation.

The recently established procurement website, www.eprocure.gov.gy, would obviously have teething problems, as every project has at inception, but these would be rectified and the website improved upon until the desired result is achieved.

At one of his recent post-Cabinet media briefings, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon said the government is moving away from the traditional and more expensive means of advertising in the print media and is taking advantage of the transformation in the Information and Communications Technology sector.

“Our intention is to migrate, as much as possible, definitely more and more… government ads and government notices into the electronic world,” he explained.  The government has also stated that concerns raised by media houses about the move were solely influenced by “blatant self-interest” and “commercial considerations.”

According to Dr. Luncheon, advertisements in the print media will not be totally ruled out.  “This is a cultural thing, quite a bit of those who advertise have had longstanding engagements-financial, nostalgic and otherwise, with various print media houses,” he said. “And then some categories of notices, whether on the basis of existing legislation or the [explicit] desire of those who are placing the ads for it to appear in the print media. And there is enough room, in the system, to contemplate those instances that would be used to support ads, notices in the print media.”

The Government source yesterday said the contention by Stabroek News’ Editor-in-Chief, Anand Persaud, that this move by the Government has to do with “punishing of media entities” on the basis that it would constitute a clear violation of the press freedom based on the Declaration of Chapultepec is predicated on an erroneous premise, because Government’s thrust in this direction has nothing to do with punishing media entities but only to do with the intent of getting greater value for taxpayers’ money and providing Government information, including tenders and awarding of contracts, in a timely, efficient, and cost-effective way, and to enhance accountability of public spending.

Media houses are profit-making and not charitable institutions that have a right to the public purse.  There is a burgeoning private sector which should be tapped into for advertising revenues, which is the practice of private media houses worldwide, and Government should not be held ransom to the indolence of private media houses to pursue this traditional avenue for income-generation under the guise of freedom of expression.

The Government has made it clear that any serious examination of the comments by Stabroek News and Kaieteur News would lead to the inescapable conclusion that these comments are motivated by nothing other than blatant self-interest and commercial considerations, and are devoid of any principle or objectivity.

For example, a recent editorial in the Stabroek News made reference to the need for value-for-money, but in almost the same breath dismisses the obvious economies that would be generated by the establishment of the website.

While the editorial acknowledged the potential for the website to generate savings, it then brazenly sought to ascribe negative motive to the Government for wishing to generate such savings.

In addition, comments such as those contained in the Stabroek News’ editorial completely ignore the fact that the use of electronic or other dedicated means to publish Government advertisements is a well-established practice the world over.

It should be noted that many Governments use websites to publish ads, while others use an official publication such as the Gazette to publish ads. There are, in fact, very few examples that can be cited from the rest of the world, where Government advertisements are placed in mainstream newspapers on a routine ongoing basis.