RECENTLY, I watched in horror at the front page of Kaieteur News coverage of a man beating his wife in public and said to myself this newspaper has lost its marbles. I want to know who is such a brainless reporter (editor) as to carry a front page with such garbage. I said to myself this has to be the limit; this newspaper has crossed the boundary where all decency and respect have been thrown out the window. I said to myself this newspaper is not responsible anymore. It is in the realm of pure sensationalism.
Surely, Kaieteur News has lost it. They’ve reached the gutter when it comes to this type of reporting. It seems as though Kaieteur’s quest to get its newspaper sold has caused it to sink to such a low level of ‘front paging’ such a despicable act; this is outrageous. The titled front page article reads, “woman gets sound beating in public for threatening to leave husband” of man beating woman like an animal.
Speaking of beating an animal, there is animal cruelty certainly if this kind of coverage was given of a man beating a donkey it would have generated outrage then truly this is a violation of that woman’s basic human rights. Come to think of it, one cannot even flog your child these days but here you can brutalise a woman in public.
I think this is meant to humiliate women and tear down whatever dignity they have left. I know there are men, even women, who would laugh at this clip.
However, I find no humour in the story. It was a foolish display of base mentality that is not fit for any human to see. There are children  and young boys seeing this. What kind of message do you want to convey when you publish such garbage on the front page?
I can imagine young boys calling up their peers to tell them ‘take a read of Kaieteur’s front page’ and you will see a “bad man” putting licks on the woman for threatening to leave him and the cacophonous appraisal, after all, ‘he right, man must control woman.” This is the kind of foolishness that would be going through their minds when they look at that spectacle. Is this the society we are building for our future homes where man beats woman and children have to grow up in that kind of environment?

To see a man treating a woman as if she was “a thing”, to use street talk, and think it’s funny is sick and deserves all the condemnation that any society could muster.

This type of behaviour must be abhorred and should be denounced with the strongest language possible.
With all the despicable acts of violence being perpetrated against women, to post such a photograph, front page at that, is degrading to the institution of womanhood and a human being.
I must submit that Kaieteur News post an apology for this kind of reportage. I know where Kaieteur News is going with this one; they are saying we have a right to report, a right to bring to the public what is the real state or extent of domestic violence. Yes this might be so, but to do this in such a graphic and sadistic display leaves much to be desired.
Talk about freedom of the press…then what is? I chide Kaieteur News for this kind of wanton lawlessness because they should not be afraid that their paper would not be sold. They operate in a constituency that readily buy their stuff so the paper does not have to sing so loudly for their supper; most of Region 4 is a cesspool ready to gobble up such garbage.
But I do ask them to practise a modicum of standards where reporting is concerned. If they are worth their salt then the clip should be turned over to the police and have this low life of a man arrested for assault and battery. I remember reading somewhere that this constitutes an illegal act worthy of prosecution. If his wife does not want to proceed then this is for a court to decide, but right now the matter is in the public domain and swift action must be taken.

I use the BBC as my guide to true journalism; yes, as a newspaper you do have leeway in this area, but here is a case where there is a very sensitive issue at stake, a time when women are battered; for God’s sake women are killed, then, it behoves the print and electronic media to be more understanding of the situation and try to be more human in your reporting.

Violence against another human being is unacceptable and anything that promotes or insinuates this kind of behaviour must be met with the sternest condemnation from all right-thinking individuals.  I know some of our women are not thinking right or what we commonly say ‘not using their brains’, but using a public display in a humiliating way to highlight this is certainly not the way to go, period. I expect all women’s groups to be swarming over this article for the damage it has caused to their dignified state of womanhood.