THERE is a growing and dangerous tendency in our society to treat allegations as facts and the truth and this is unfortunately being bolstered and fuelled by some of our media houses which imparts much spin but few hard facts. In this way, these media houses manipulate the minds of people to think in accordance with their agenda-political or otherwise.

We saw it with the shooting incident during the Linden protest with pronouncements on who was responsible for the deaths of protesters. However, the Commission of Inquiry into the incident dispelled most of what was being peddled by some media houses. And obviously being highly dissatisfied with the findings of the Inquiry, futile attempts were made to discredit the work of the distinguished jurists who comprised the Commission.
More recently, an allegation of sodomy against the police by a detainee,Colwyn Harding, while he was in custody at the Timehri Police Station is being treated as the fact and truth, even though there is an ongoing investigation by the Guyana Police Force, which is expected to be completed tomorrow. In addition, doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) are not only livid, but have categorically denied any knowledge of reports appearing in certain sections of the media that a patient, Colwyn Harding, had informed them that he had allegedly been sodomised by a police rank using a baton. The doctors have further denied the following claims: (a) That Harding had been treated in a shoddy manner at the institution; and (b) that the hospital had run out of colostomy bags. In fact, the doctors said Harding had been using colostomy bags from the first day of his hospitalisation.
That apart, the doctors deemed it unprofessional to be discussing a patient’s condition without that patient’s prior approval; and discussing such a matter with the media compounds the unprofessionalism of these media entities.
Interestingly, none of these media houses has bothered to deal with the issue of why has this allegation surfaced one month after the alleged incident.
It is evident that any allegation which has potential ammunition for launching a scathing attack on the government is portrayed as the fact and the truth. This is evident in the Linden incident, as well as several other incidents of the past, and the latest one. We can see clearly from these two incidents alone that certain media houses, and individuals as well, have appointed themselves as “judge, jury and executioner.”
No one would disagree that if the allegation is proven to be true those who are culpable must be dealt with condignly in accordance with the law. However, until then no one should pass judgement or sentencing on anyone.
The media in any society have a very important role in disseminating information and educating people and therefore it must at all times display responsibility and professionalism in discharging this role. We have seen how the failure by some media houses to abide by these sacred journalistic principles has resulted in human tragedies such as the Rwanda genocide and elsewhere.
American humorist and writer, Finley Peter Dunne, (1867-1936) must have foreseen what would happen in Guyana when he wrote under the pseudonym Dooley about the power of newspapers: “The newspaper does everything for us. It runs the police force and the banks, commands the ministry, controls the legislature, baptises the young, marries the foolish, comforts the afflicted, afflicts the comfortable, buries the dead and roasts him afterward.”
Paranjpy Guha Thakurta in his article in The Asian Age of December last year: “So Much Spin, So few facts” puts it succinctly: “The facts are, obviously, far more nuanced. The media, far from afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted, is more often than not excessively preoccupied[with] maximising its profits by selling “news” in the way soap, toothpaste and potato chips are marketed. However, unlike the norms and rules that operate in markets for most products and services, the intensification of competition among newspapers and television channels does not necessarily or automatically lead to an improvement in standards or quality.”
He adds: “The rise of the Internet and the availability of huge volumes of ‘free’ information has acted as a double-whammy on media companies and made them even more desperate to grab eyeballs.”
The only difference in Guyana is that certain media houses are not only in pursuit of profits by grabbing eyeballs, they are also involved in political subversion and sabotage through misinformation, distortion of truth and blatant lies under the direction of their political masters and therefore would never subscribe to the principle that allegations must remain allegations until proven otherwise.