Journalistic principles breached by all media houses
THE Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) said in a recently released report that it has found “pervasive breaching” in media houses of salient journalistic principles, such as accuracy, balance and fair reporting. The report was compiled for the period of last August 29 to September 30, and the newspapers covered in it are Guyana Chronicle, Stabroek News, Kaieteur News, and Guyana Times.
The television stations covered include Channels Six, Seven, Nine, 11, 28, and 65. The report also comprised coverage of Voice of Guyana (VOG) radio and political parties such as the PPP/C, APNU, AFC, TUF and JFAP.
The MMU said the report is intended to raise the bar on journalism standards, especially during the pre and post-elections periods of the country’s general and regional elections, and seeks to bring to the attention of media houses the weak and deficient areas of their operations that require urgent attention.
Opinionated news reporting has been mentioned as one of the breaches by media houses – an “unprofessional practice” in the nightly television newscasts and by some sections of the print media.
“The practice of conflating opinion with news conflicts not only with the MCC (Media Code of Conduct), but also with rudimentary journalism standards, and serves to deny citizens the right to accurate, balanced and fair information, which is so vital in the grooming of an informed electorate,” the unit observed.
The unit also detected the appearances of vague outlines of partisan political cleavages by certain television newscasts, and the clear political formalising within the editorial sections of the print media.
“In the print media, the content and tone of some editorials conveyed the ineluctable impressions that certain newspapers were advocating on behalf of certain political parties; as much as editorials are meant to reflect a newspaper’s position on topical issues, they also unwittingly reflect political allegiances,” the recently resuscitated body observed.
The following are observations, analyses and conclusions of the performances of the print media by the MMU:

Editorials
The opinions expressed through the Guyana Chronicle’s editorials indicated that the government was provided with a large amount of positive coverage and a moderate amount of neutral publicity. Amongst the political parties, the PPP/C was the only party that gained a small amount of positive coverage, while APNU and AFC were portrayed with varying amounts of negative publicity only, with APNU being depicted three times more negatively than AFC.
In the Stabroek News editorials, government was disproportionally projected with precisely 56 times more negative than positive coverage. And apart from the minuscule amounts of negative coverage observed and measured for the PPP/C and APNU, none of the other Political Parties (i.e. AFC, JFAP and TUF) received any measurable coverage.
The Guyana Times editorials served the government with a copious amount of positive coverage and a moderate amount of neutral publicity. None of the political parties attracted any measurable coverage.
The editorials in the Kaieteur News “adorned” the government with almost three times more negative than positive publicity. Amongst the political parties, the PPP/C was given small amounts of positive and neutral coverage, while APNU collected a small amount of neutral coverage.

Letter Columns
In the Chronicle’s letters columns, the government gained substantial amounts of positive and neutral coverage, along with small amount of negative publicity, acquiring in the process a positive to negative ratio of coverage that was 49:1. The coverage measured for the political parties showed that only the PPP/C received a large amount of positive publicity, while APNU, AFC and TUF attracted varying levels of strictly negative publicity.
In the Stabroek News, the government attracted comments that were more negative than positive, spread out in a ratio of over 6:1. Amongst the political parties, APNU led the field with positive coverage, followed in order by the AFC and PPP/C. The PPP/C was the front runner in the negative columns, followed by APNU, AFC and TUF. Individually, the PPP/C grossed approximately seven times more negative than positive coverage.
In the Guyana Times, the government was apportioned a large amount of positive coverage and an infinitesimal amount of negative publicity that was reflected in a positive to negative ratio of over 189:1. Only two political parties were the recipients of positive coverage, PPP/C and APNU, with the PPP/C obtaining the most, and APNU the least.
The government scored approximately five times more negative than positive coverage in the Kaieteur News, whilst from the ranks of political parties, APNU gained the highest amount of positive coverage, followed by PPP/C and AFC in that order. On the negative side, the PPP/C led the way, followed by APNU and AFC.

Columnists
Chronicle’s columnists distilled copious amounts of positive and neutral coverage on the government, while staying clear of penning any measurable negative comments. Amongst the political parties, the PPP/C gained the most positive coverage, followed by the AFC and APNU, in that order.
The columnists in the Stabroek News depicted the government with around seven times more negative than positive publicity. Amongst the political parties, APNU garnered the most positive coverage, followed by AFC and PPP/C, in that order. On the negative side, the PPP/C was doused with the largest amount of negative publicity, followed by APNU and AFC. The PPP/C was also highlighted approximately three times more negative than positive.
The Guyana Times columnists provided the government with small amounts of positive and neutral publicity, while APNU and AFC were portrayed wholly in a negative light.
Columnists in the Kaieteur News distilled on the government approximately more negative than positive coverage. Amongst the political parties, the AFC was the recipient of the most positive coverage, followed by PPP/C and APNU. The PPP/C collected the largest accumulation of negative publicity, and was followed by AFC and APNU, in that order. The coverage given to the PPP/C by the newspaper’s columnists resulted in a spread of information received by the public that was 16 times more negative that positive.

General News
In the Chronicle, the government received superfluous amounts of positive and neutral coverage and a comparably minuscule amount of negative coverage. The spread of positive to negative coverage given to the Government was in a ratio of over 1600:1. Amongst the political parties, the PPP/C gained the highest amount of positive coverage, followed by APNU and AFC, in that order.
In the Stabroek News, the government gained sizeable amounts of positive, negative and neutral publicity, while securing considerably more positive than negative coverage. Amongst the political parties, APNU gained the highest amount of positive publicity, followed in order by the AFC, PPP/C, JFAP and TUF.
The government was depicted hugely more positive than negative in the Guyana Times, in addition to being the recipient of a considerable amount of neutral publicity. When the coverage that the government received was segregated, the resulting ratio of positive to negative was almost 77:1. Amongst the political parties, APNU acquired the most positive coverage, followed in descending order by PPP/C, AFC and JFAP.
The Kaieteur News inundated the government with considerably more positive than negative coverage, complemented by a large input of neutral publicity. Amongst the political parties, the AFC secured the highest amount of positive coverage, followed by APNU and PPP/C, in that order.

Cartoons
Only the government received measurable coverage from the Chronicle’s cartoons which was moderately positive and moderately neutral.
The cartoons published in the Stabroek News portrayed the government in a hugely negative way, likewise the TUF, but to a lesser extent.
The cartoons appearing in the Kaieteur News depicted the government neutrally while the PPP/C was the only political party that received coverage, albeit, coverage that was totally negative.

Advertisements
Advertisements observed in the Chronicle over the past month showed that the government and the ruling PPP/C were the only entities portrayed in a hugely positive manner.
In the Stabroek News, the government secured almost equal amounts of positive and negative publicity. Amongst the political parties, only the PPP/C commanded some amount of coverage, and in this case the coverage was wholly positive.
The government and the ruling PPP/C were the only two entities that gained significant positive coverage from the paid advertisements that adorned the Guyana Times.
In the Kaieteur News, the government’s hugely negative portrayal in this section of the newspaper is attributable to paid AFC advertisements that targeted the government’s record of governance, while the PPP/C gained positive publicity from the advertisements that saturated the newspaper’s pages in the run up to the party’s election campaign launch.

THE BROADCAST MEDIA
The following are observations, analyses and conclusions of the performances of the broadcast media by the MMU:

Channel Six: The talk shows aired on this station provided the government with extremely more negative than positive coverage that was in a ratio of more than 10:1. APNU scored the highest positive coverage, followed sequentially by AFC, JFAP and TUF. And in terms of negative publicity, the PPP/C took the top position, followed by TUF, then APNU, with AFC obtaining the least amount. The general programmes provided information to the public that conveyed far more positive than negative publicity for the government. Only the PPP/C came in for a minimal amount of positive advertisement coverage.

Channel Seven: The talk shows aired provided the government with extremely more negative than positive coverage that was in a ratio of more than 10:1. Amongst the political parties, APNU scored the highest positive coverage, followed sequentially by AFC, JFAP and TUF.
The negative publicity given to the PPP/C was quantitatively more than the same timed for APNU, AFC, and TUF, combined. In the section for general programmes, the positive coverage captured by APNU was 11 times more than the same coverage timed for the PPP/C. Also, the PPP/C, unlike APNU, contracted net negative coverage. Only the PPP/C came in for a minimal amount of positive coverage in the political advertisements aired.

Channel Nine: Amongst the political parties, APNU was most positively portrayed, whilst the PPP/C barely pipped the AFC for second position. TUF and PPP/C were the only two parties that received negative coverage from the newscast, while APNU and AFC did not sustain any negative publicity. From talk shows, the government was deluged with a substantial barrage of negative coverage, a sprinkling of positive and a moderate amount of neutral, resulting in a lop-sided ratio of negative to positive coverage that was 60:1.

Channel 11: NCN News provided the government with substantial positive coverage and sizeable neutral publicity. The PPP/C was the recipient of the most positive coverage, while APNU nosed ahead of AFC for the second position. Only AFC and APNU were the recipients of negative coverage. The talk shows enveloped the government with extensive positive coverage, a relatively trivial amount of negative, and a fairly large amount of neutral coverage. In the general programmes, the government gained massive positive coverage and a relatively substantial amount of neutral publicity.

Channel 28: The Evening News furnished the government with a big amount of positive coverage and an incomparably small amount of negative publicity. The positive to negative spread of coverage given to the government over the past month by the news team was calculated at over 38:1. From the channel’s general programmes, the Government came in for a moderate amount of positive coverage, while amongst the political parties, only the PPP/C gained a moderate amount of positive publicity. The advertisements aired provided small amounts of positive publicity for the government and the ruling PPP/C.

Channel 65: News Update portrayed the government with extensive positive, negligible negative, and a large amount of neutral publicity. The positive to negative spread of coverage timed for the Government was over 335:1. APNU was the recipient of the largest share of negative coverage apportioned by the news team, and was followed by AFC and PPP/C, in that order. The channel’s talk shows provided the government with a substantial amount of positive coverage and a large quantum of neutral publicity. The general programmes that were aired were extremely generous to the government.

VOG Radio: VOG News ‘draped’ the government with a massive accumulation of positive publicity, a small amount of negative, and a large quantum of neutral. Moreover, the government was provided with a positive to negative ratio of approximately 33:1. The PPP/C was awarded more than double the amount of positive coverage given to APNU and AFC combined, while the negative coverage accorded the AFC was five times more that which was timed for APNU.