By Svetlana Marshall
The Guyana Chronicle has rebranded, boosting of a new refreshing image, but importantly adopting a mandate to cater for the diverse interests of Guyanese both locally and in the diaspora.The rebrand is not “just cosmetic,” Editor-In-Chief Nigel Williams said, pointing out that the newspaper will be “the voice of the people”.
Guyana Chronicle had, in the past, been highly criticised for its excessively politicised content. Stories bashing the government were severely edited, while selected politicians were given large column spaces to adumbrate their views as news. “This will be a thing of the past,” Williams has assured.
In fact, the Guyana National Newspapers Limited (GNNL), publishers of the Guyana and Sunday Chronicle, has pledged to “turn over a new leaf.”
In so doing, the spotlight will now be placed on the regular man in the street. Persons throughout the length and breadth of Guyana, groups and organisations will now be the agenda setters, with emphasis being placed on social and developmental issues in the areas of health, climate change, pollution, crime, suicide and unemployment. Issues regarding the environment, education, aviation, agriculture, mining, commerce and other important sectors that have been playing a leading role in the development of Guyana will also be featured.
“While we will be responsible in our reporting, we will not shut out people’s views on any issue. So readers can be assured that we will not shut out their views; we will be responsible in the reporting of their views, but we will not shut out their views,” Williams emphasised.
Under the leadership of this new editor-in-chief, the Editorial Team, constituting a mixture of experienced and young, enthusiastic reporters, will travel to the far reaches of Guyana to give coverage to those citizens whose views have for far too long been overshadowed by politicians; and developments unfolding in the main regions of Guyana will have prominent coverage in this new people’s medium.
“I think the reason why people are not responding to newspapers generally in far-flung areas is because they do not see themselves in the papers. So we have decided that, every week, our reporters will go out of town and cover reports. Every week, you will find stories coming out of the regions. All the regions will be covered,” Williams has disclosed.
He pointed out that while the Editorial Department operates from the capital city – Georgetown, there are correspondents in all of the main regions. “And we will be hiring new people in other areas of the country so we can get maximum coverage of events and issues,” Williams has revealed. Reporters emails will be attached to their stories in the newspaper, he disclosed, noting as well that their contact numbers would be made public for easy access. “This will allow for greater interaction and greater coverage of stories, because the affected will be able to make direct contact with our reporters,” he added.
Asked to describe his crop of reporters, the editor-in-chief said: “We have a mixture of experience and young, enthusiastic reporters who are willing to learn, to go the extra mile to get their work done, and done professionally. So it is an exciting time for me, and for the Chronicle as a whole, with the crop of reporters we have.
“Some of our reporters are trained and have completed studies at the University of Guyana. They have the requisite theoretical knowledge, and now is time for them to put what they have learnt into practice with the level of experienced practitioners we have on board. With the likes of Mr. Godfrey Wray we can move this paper forward,” he declared.

NEW COLUMNISTS
Turning his attention to the new and improved columns that will be featured in the Guyana Chronicle, the editor-in-chief said reporters will be backed by a number of columnists who have a wealth of experience within their respective fields.
Alluding to Dr. Caitlyn Vieira – a psychologist by profession – Williams said social issues such as suicide will be addressed extensively through her columns. “In this period in our country, when there are a lot of suicides (and) people are suffering from depression, she is going to address that through very informative articles,” he explained. He also noted that there will be a feedback mechanism in place for persons to submit their questions and responses.
“They can drop in their questions in our mail box and they will be answered. Right away we are tackling the issue of suicide – a social problem that has gripped this country, and the newspaper is taking it on,” he said.
Besides Dr Vieira, Pastor Wendell Jeffrey, who has done extensive work in penal reform, will be writing weekly columns dealing with issues such as delinquency, crime and substance abuse, and a number of other issues that have been plaguing society’s young men in particular.
Retired Guyanese diplomat Dr Odeen Ishmael is also among the columnists, as is Ms Joan Cambridge. Other columnists will focus their writings on arts and culture, literature, business, labour, politics, and entertainment among other issues. “We have a role to educate, inform and entertain the population, and we will do that through the coverage of the news, both locally and internationally,” Williams noted.

ONLINE PRESENCE
Undoubtedly, the evolution of social media has had an impact on traditional media, with newspaper being no exception. As such, in an effort to remain competitive, Mr Williams has said the Guyana Chronicle will be increasing its online presence.
“We are going to hire a dedicated online editor shortly who will deal with the whole issue of social media. We intend to be more aggressive in our social media reporting across all social media platforms: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook you name it; we will have a presence on every social media platform.”
Additionally, the newspaper will be relaunching its website soon. “We have gotten a lot of feedback that it is not as interactive as it should be,” Williams disclosed. Looking into the future, Williams said, the Guyana Chronicle will be the true definition of “The Nation’s Newspaper.” “With time, Guyana Chronicle will become the leading newspaper in sales again,” he said, noting that the newspaper already has the widest circulation in Guyana. “We have a duty to record the history of this nation, and that is what we are going to do as a newspaper of record,” he promised.