THE ISSUE of freedom of the press in Guyana has long been a topic of interest for various politicians and ‘armchair’ analysts. The recent issue in Barbados states it quite clearly with the action taken by its Central Bank Governor, Dr DeLisle Worrell, against the Nation Publishing Company, which publishes the Barbados Nation newspaper.

This newspaper carried a front page headline that could have created severe trauma to hundreds of citizens by indicating that scores of persons would be losing their jobs. The front page headline on May 6, 2014 in the Nation newspaper screamed “60 to go” and clearly indicated that 60 persons would be losing their jobs. The supporting story also indicated that this amount was the full staff of the agency in question.

This represented the irresponsibility of the newspaper, which should have kept to the facts, and focus on it while keeping the balance of the issue at hand. The journalistic ethics appeared to be compromised.

It should be noted that, among these ethics, while a journalist is primarily responsible to the readers, listeners, and viewers, he or she also has the right and obligation to make the context of the news item clear to readers, listeners and viewers. Additionally, the public must be able to distinguish facts from opinions and fictitious material.
Similarly, material must not be used in a misleading manner. Further, headlines and leads must be justified by the substance of the story.

As such, it is not surprising that Governor Worrell took umbrage and sent a letter to the Chief Executive Officer and Publisher, Vivian-Anne Gittens, in which it was indicated that Nation/Sun staff will not be invited to any future press conference or media event hosted by him. This should be carefully examined by some media houses in Guyana.

It must be noted that the Central Bank of Barbados has assured media practitioners in Barbados that the Nation Publishing Company will receive all press releases and other communications issued by the Central Bank, plus the fact that all media houses have free access to the Central Bank’s website.

The same situation exists in Guyana, where media houses are electronically driven and can access various websites for information. However, this is not done, and they lie in wait for public figures and then twist what they are told to produce a sensational story, sometimes doing harm in the process.
NICHOLAS JACKSON