– calls for boycott
THE State print and electronic media are disputing claims by Working People’s Alliance (WPA) which, in a release issued yesterday, said it is outraged at the ongoing and escalating abuse of the state media by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). According to the WPA, which has been for several years now an almost-defunct political party, “There is no longer even the pretence at fairness. The state media have become PPP mouth pieces, nothing else.”
The WPA contends that “nowhere else in the hemisphere is a ruling party so shamelessly using the state media to advance its narrow agenda.”
It is also calling on all “fair-minded Guyanese” to boycott the newspaper and to take with “a barrel of salt” that which emanates from the state-owned television station, NCN.
Chronicle’s Editor-in-Chief Mr. Mark Ramotar has since dismissed the WPA’s accusations and allegations as wholly unsubstantiated and ridiculous.  He pointed out that Chronicle continues to strive to provide the reading public, both locally and overseas, with  a comprehensive blend of news and features of interest to an eclectic reading public.
According to Ramotar, Chronicle continues to give coverage to all political parties.  Ramotar said he is also not surprised at the opposition party’s tantrum, as it is being blinded to reality because of its self-serving interests and agendas, wholly inimical to the public good, as in the recent instance where it advocated disenfranchising thousands of Guyanese citizens.
The WPA has to be guilty of some criminal act that can best be interpreted by a legal mind when it urges the public to, “… register their disgust by flooding those entities (Chronicle and NCN) with calls and emails. The time has come for Guyanese to be pro-active in their collective interest.”

The WPA’s opening salvo in its release yesterday is also based on an erroneous premise, because the Chronicle, for instance, is increasingly being perceived as the go-to paper for accurate reportage.
If, as the WPA contends, the Chronicle is perpetuating the positions taken by the PPP then, as a media house increasingly being lauded for its balanced and factual reportage, it is entirely within this newspaper’s purview to report on what the editorial collective perceives as fair and balanced positions taken by the ruling Party, because its policies impact on the governance of the nation and the democratic principles by which that Party is guided.
Chronicle is also guided by democratic principles so, as such, there are corresponding trajectories to which both entities aspire and promote within the framework of their separate areas of responsibility, with the ultimate aim of benefiting the Guyanese nation.
A case in point, which has also been alluded to by the WPA, is the recent representation by both entities under attack (Chronicle and NCN), of thousands of Guyanese citizens who stood in danger of disenfranchisement, which should have been a desired objective of every right-thinking and moral individual – that is, those without self-serving agendas.
According to the WPA, Chronicle “…used its pages to repeat word for word the PPP’s self-serving propaganda about the reopening of the Claims and Objection period.”
That Chronicle’s position on the issue paralleled that of the PPP is entirely incidental and wholly based on an analysis of the extant circumstances, and the latent threat to the credibility of the polls, especially in view of Guyana’s volatile history of polls-related violence on one pretext or another.
Surely, attempting to circumvent this potential eventuality is the responsible thing to do.  Chronicle’s position was validated by no less than the very incorruptible Chairman of GECOM, Dr. Steve Surujbally, who posited that through the decision to re-open the Claims and Objections Period to facilitate persons who would have been disenfranchised, “…everyone wins: GECOM wins; the political parties, the electors and the nation in general win (and) democracy wins”.
Conversely, this latest vitriolic attack on the ruling PPP and the state entities by the defunct WPA, while completely disregarding the continuum of lies and misrepresentations of facts about the President, the government, leading PPP figures; or anyone remotely perceived to support positions and actions taken by the government and ruling party by opposition print and electronic media houses, is touted as being “proper politics”.
This, while opposition parties continually accuse state electronic and print media of feeling free to distort the views of others, to slander opposition members and silence their voices.
But these allegations can, with more justification, be retorted to the plethora of anti-government, anti-PPP print and electronic media houses; all of which openly and unapologetically support either the AFC or the fledgling APNU.  Their false allegations include accusations that Chronicle receives subvention from State coffers, which is a lie, known to be so by the leadership of APNU.
APNU, which is the PNC clothed in a new name, because the other parties are defunct and/or moribund, has ramped up its rhetoric in the vilest way, while disallowing dissension of its allegations and outright accusations at the Government and Party of every vile act under the sun.
WPA’s contention that, “…it has shown little respect for the dignity of the reporters in the state media who, to keep their jobs, must spew the lies and vomit they are handed down from above” has no basis in merit, because the private media houses continually advertise for reporters; so there are options available for anyone in the profession who feels uncomfortable reporting on government-related issues.
They opt to apply for jobs at the state media houses with the full knowledge that part of their duties would be reporting on government-related activities.  They are treated as professionals and no-one directs their news stories.  They report on the news and their reports are mainly edited for grammar and factual accuracy.