I QUOTE from a letter to the press written by the President of the Guyana Press Association, Ms. Nazima Raghubir.

“I am not surprised (sic) that Kit Nascimento (sic) would jump at the opportunity to create and peddle the narrative penned in his letter dated 13 July 2023. It is an insult to free press, media workers, and this nation for me to repeat that narrative here. Kit knows this more than anyone that the press will prioritising more pressing issues when engaging a senior official like the Head of State.

“The fact that the media could not engage the president beyond Kit’s rule has robbed the nation of understanding critical issues facing everyday Guyanese. The media are not just a group of people; we interact and face the public every day. I find Kit’s missive to be nothing but an insult to this nation.

“The fact remains that there is little engagement between the media and the government. Ministers talk to selected media houses; some do not answer their phones. The Vice-President has indicated that he cannot speak to certain issues because he does not sit at Cabinet, and or reporters should reach out to the subject minister…”

I will ask readers to read this quote from Ms. Raghubir, then juxtapose it with my position on Ms. Raghubir. I called Ms. Raghubir for a comment on what I considered the endangerment of the press when one of the country’s leading newspapers, the Stabroek News (SN), refused to carry the letters of a highly-rated Guyanese scholar, Professor Randolph Persaud, who is an adviser to the President of Guyana.

It was obvious that such a fundamental departure from the norms of press freedom has to occupy the mind of a person who holds the position of President of the Guyana Press Association. Ms. Raghubir refused to comment, with the explanation that she is not the GPA; that the GPA is an eight-person entity, and I should send my query to them.

Nowhere in the past two hundred years would the head of an organisation refuse to talk to the media on the basis that the journalist must speak to the entire body. The status of headship gives the head the scope and latitude to comment, and also the protection of saying that it is his/her opinion only.

It is downright unacceptable that Ms. Raghubir, who is the head of the press association, cannot offer a comment to a fellow media practitioner, who has been in the business for 35 years. She had to have and, at the moment, she must have an opinion on why a presidential adviser could not get his letters published in the Stabroek News.

Commonsense should have directed Ms. Raghubir to say: “I don’t know if that is true, but if it is true, I would not agree with it.”

Ms. Raghubir needs to sit down with Guyanese icon Ian McDonald, and learn about the function of integrity.

“When asked if he agrees with SN Editor Mr. Anand Persaud informing Professor Persaud that his missive cannot be carried if they contain criticism of civil society groups, Mr. McDonald openly said if that is true, he cannot agree with such an approach by the newspaper. Please see my two columns on this issue: October 7, 2022, “An open letter to Isabelle DeCaires and Ian McDonald,” and October 10, “Ian McDonald rejects Stabroek News’s position on Article 13.”

The methodology of Ms. Raghubir has thrown the future of journalism in doubt. If you have to make your enquiry to the entire organization, then, by the same logic, Ms. Raghubir cannot ask a minister about his policies and actions, because the minister belongs to a collective named the Cabinet.

After her attitude to me, all ministers should direct Ms. Raghubir to send her queries to the Cabinet. Ms. Raghubir, in her letter, stated, and I quote again: “The media are not just a group of people; we interact and face the public every day.”

Ms. Raghubir does not practise what comes from her pen and mouth. I am a columnist that faces the pubic daily.

Professor Persaud complained to me. I asked Mr. McDonald for a position, because, at the time, I thought he was Chairman of the Board of SN. I requested a reaction from a majority shareholder of SN. She did not respond for obvious reasons.

For those obvious reasons, please see my series in this newspaper over the past six weeks on the political, ethnic and cultural attitudes of the Mulatto/Creole class. SN’s editor refused to comment. I naturally sought a reaction from Ms. Raghubir. She should be the last to talk about journalism in Guyana.