READING the saga of how Rupert Murdoch reduced prominent politicians from the major British parties to sycophants is really sickening stuff to digest.

They would line up to beg Murdoch because they knew that his media empire could deny or give them the prime ministership.
Any Third World student entering university to study politics needs to read how Murdoch at one time was the most powerful person in the world.

Murdoch extended his empire from Australia to the UK then crossed the Atlantic to end up being the same emperor that he was in the UK and Australia in the United States. The power of Rupert is the story of the power of the media in any country.
Centuries ago in the UK, the press was described as the fourth estate, meaning the fourth power after the three forms of power in society – nobility, clergy and the parliamentarians.

It was acknowledged by then that the press was equally an influential voice as those three classes. From those earlier times, centuries ago, the media retained its power until the 21st century when social media made strong inroads into its fortress.

If you want the facts of why Russia invaded the Ukraine and how genocide was committed in Gaza, you need to consult social media coverage rather than rely on the mainstream media in the West. As I noted in a previous column, one-sided reporting of the Israeli perpetration of genocide in Gaza has permanently damaged the credibility of Western journalism.

Today, all over the world, social media outfits have equal penetrating power as the mainstream media. A social media analyst can be as influential in his/her interpretations of events as a columnist or editorial writer in a newspaper. In Guyana today, the newspapers still have a strong presence but the days of sharp, independent, privately owned newspapers that drove you to respect them and the electronic media are long gone.

I wrote for the independent press in the 1980s and 1990s and I yearn for those days again when journalism stood tall in Guyana. What worries me is that there is a complete absence of condemnation of what the private media have descended to. I never read the online edition of the Stabroek News because you have to pay for it. And anyway, I buy the printed edition.

But I was informed that I should read the letter section which is available free online and go to the comments section. I have been doing that and what I see on the comments section is a complete absence of any reaction to what the private media have become.

There isn’t a newspaper in Guyana’s history that operates like an opposition party as what we have with the Kaieteur News and the Stabroek News today. The Argosy in the 1960s was relentless in its criticism against the Jagan Government but its content and professionalism were far more pronounced than what we have in Guyana today.

For 365 days the Kaieteur News carries a front page lead on Guyana’s oil industry in which glaring exaggerations are featured and graphic fictions are emblazoned on the front page. And this has not occurred in one calendar year only. It has been going on for four years now and old stories about the oil industry are regurgitated year after year.

Vice-President Jagdeo said at one of his press conferences that the government would correct mistakes made in reporting about the oil industry in the Kaieteur News and offer the correct figures and an outline of the facts. The Vice-President said the next week, the Kaieteur News, would repeat the identical story.

To date, there has been no letter from the overseas bunch that rush to put their comments to the letters in the online edition of the Stabroek News about what the Kaieteur News does. The important fourth estate has descended to this level and you look at Guyana and you see not one expression of indignation about the caricature the fourth estate has become.

Over at the Stabroek News, this newspaper has accused both the opposition and government of poorly serving the Guyanese people. But the fourth estate is a powerful institution in any country. It has to serve the citizenry in the same way the government, the opposition, the business community, the security forces and the judiciary do.

Take a look at the Stabroek News for March 17, 2024. A press release from the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) is given front page coverage. This is an entity that hardly exists. Yet the powerful sugar union, GAWU, is never given front page coverage. Is this an example of serving the Guyanese people?

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.