Dear Editor,
DURING ministerial discussions on Budget 2019 on the National Communications Network (NCN), a pattern of media behaviour was highlighted, as it relates to how some sections of the media report on issues which carry political overtones.

It is an observation with which I have had cause to express my views on; for what I have long ago discerned as sections of this most critical fourth estate of society, becoming a part of the national problem rather than the solution.

Let me be very clear, that the respective cabinet officers referred to media reportage with specific reference to matters related to their respective ministries. In my view, and I am sure that they may be of the same opinion, though not publicly mentioned – such a line as mostly taken by sections of the media, since 2015, is part of a larger right-wing plot against the government, in which the media, in bed with vested interests, and political alignment, have set out to discredit the government at every step. One only has to recall the manner of reporting on the GuySuCo tragedy to understand this particular contention.
First of all, the Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan referred to the ridiculous allegation by Opposition Leader Bharat Jagdeo, unsubstantiated in every way, that the coalition government has since 2015 burdened the nation with in excess of 200 new taxes. This scurrilous claim, as was expected, was also mouthed by Donald Ramotar in his frequent fulminations in the media.

It is the legitimate expectation of the public that any media house which will want to publish such a statement should, first of all, verify its claim; particularly, as in this case, seeking verification from the Ministry of Finance, which is the repository of all such relevant information. This was the minister’s position when he clearly debunked such rubbish, obviously designed to create disaffection among the business sector and on citizens in general.

As to the Private Sector, the nation’s umbrella business organization, it was dumb and deafeningly silent on exposing such a lie. And there is a reason for their pathetic posture that supported and lend toward such an ugly and dishonest claim by Jagdeo: he was once their benefactor, because many of them would have secured concessions, and other preferences from his government. No wonder they were dumber still in the face of the criminal state and its gradual burgeoning into a fat greedy monster. Of course, many of them were willing participants in the feast on the nation’s resources.

If my memory serves me correct, none of the two print journals, including the once respected Stabroek News which has now become a willing hovel and sanctuary for the nation’s most discredited politicians, and it’s most dangerous and deceptive liars, never questioned Jagdeo’s concocted claim of “200 new taxes”. Instead, this newspaper attempted to take cheap shots at Minister Jordan via an editorial. Of course, the minister responded very appropriately.

The Honourable Minister of Public Security is the other cabinet officer, to whom it referred. It was about crime and the statistics which he presented to prove that serious crimes in this country have been reduced; and it has, when one takes an analytical look at the figures given.

Editor, crime is an issue in Guyana, as it is in virtually every other country. It explains why, immediately, after the coalition government came to office that President David Granger requested the British government to reinstate the offer of the Security Sector Reform Programme (SSRP) which the former PPP/C administration had rejected on nebulous grounds. It is this same initiative that is being gradually implemented under a new leadership of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and that has commenced changes for a better equipped and professional police force.

Of course, the results are there in the form of better community-law enforcement relations that have resulted in very quick apprehension of suspects, the dismantling of gangs, and the success in a number of cold cases, among other notable improvements. The latter, are the success stories which are deliberately being ignored by sections of the media. And, this is very unfortunate, given the number of police – led projects into communities which have been known as crime hot spots and that have had satisfactory impact on lowering the incidences of crime.

It would seem a very great contradiction that when statistics were given about the crime situation during the PPP/C’s tenure, that it was accepted as gospel by all those who are now claiming that the same statistical methodology, prepared by the same department of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), does not correspond to the actuality of the incidences of crime. However, aligned with this dishonest contention, is the fact that crime only becomes crime when it is committed by one segment of our society.

This is, quite frankly, the dangerous imputation of the race factor into a subcultural behaviour that cuts across all lines of ethnicity and race; and every day, the evidence stares those persons who continue to peddle this nasty ethnic stereotype which the anti-government media give support. It is a grave deception that flies in the face of our social reality.

There were two separate incidents months ago, of the very young men involved in acts of very serious crimes, ironically in each, were equal numbers of suspects from Guyana’s two main ethnic groups. Yes, there is a crime situation; but subtly suggesting that the police return to the illegal method of extra judicial killings will not solve the incidents of crime, or offer solutions of any sort. So many young men were murdered extrajudicially, during the PPP/C’s reign. However, the problems that would have given rise to whatever crimes they would have committed, still remain; totally ignored and unfixed by the very former PPP/C that now finds it deceptively convenient to criticise, now that it is an item on the other side of the House. Since 2015, there have been initiatives undertaken by the government to fashion a new pathway to life, for at risk youths. These are the successes which Minister Khemraj Ramjattan expounded, that are not being highlighted by the media.

Of course, the reason is not difficult to understand – the perpetuation of a situation orchestrated by Bharrat Jagdeo who proclaimed some time ago “That crime has never been so bad”. It is a natural Jagdeo reaction of grudge to the coalition successes of not only reorganising the GPF in every department for enlightened modernisation, but which have been retooling its skills and training capabilities that have enabled it to offer a better service to society.

Editor, I will always support a media that is investigative, objective, balanced, and is prepared to publish/broadcast the truth. It is of vital importance for any media house to understand their vital role is to serve the public interest, rather than being a party to dangerous stereotypes, misconceptions, and other attributes of yellow journalism that do not bring any new and worthwhile thought towards a solution to the particular problems with which we as a nation continue to be confronted.

Every day, we bear witness to a type of media that has sold its publishing soul on the altar of dishonest convenience, and dangerous hypocrisy, as they continue to give succor to a host of monsters who are being assisted to re-emerge from the swamp. Such a media has not brought any good to daily truth, with a view of fair and balanced reporting.

Does it realise just how much it is being used to give legitimacy once again to a bunch of the worse criminal crop of politicians ever seen in this country, a criminal gang which has done so much harm to its moral fabric? And to foment a movement to discredit this government despite its many solid achievements since 2015, in addition to the many ills which the PPP/C would have ignored for its 23-years in office?

The disrespectful cartoon published in last Sunday’s edition of the Kaieteur News, supports my case just how pathetic, and mob-pandering, segments of the media have become. It has become worse than muckraking.

Regards,
Earl Hamilton