I HAVE, relentlessly, pursued the topic that if people do not respond to the insanities of anti-government emotionalism that performs under the guise of independent criticism of government’s action, then, the society becomes poorer in its intellectual qualities, innocent minds are fooled, and a creeping narrative that is based on racial and political hate and class contempt embeds itself.

Guyana has managed to escape this Mephistophelean pathway because the responses have led to exposure of a hidden agenda. In last Sunday’s edition of the Stabroek News (SN), one of the most learned critiques of the nasty state of journalism in the private press was laid out for Guyanese to learn from by the Attorney-General, Anil Nandlall. On reading Mr. Nandlall’s rejection of the type of journalism the SN puts out, you have learned many things about Guyana in 2024.
The AG’s letter cannot be discussed in one column. So I will devote two commentaries to the AG’s adumbration. The first analysis will look at the editorial note at the end of the AG’s letter, in which I am derided by the newspaper. The second installment will examine the

ncredible politicised journalism in that very editorial note in which SN now enters the most dangerous pathway that most humans avoid—the arrogant privilege to give words and actions one-dimensional meaning.
Let’s look at the paper’s editorial note dismissing my intellectual worth. I quote: “It is unfortunate that the Attorney-General seeks to found an argument using statements from Frederick Kissoon.” Before I quote the AG’s reference to me, it is important to cite something that is of the utmost importance in ongoing exposure of the politicised journalism that SN practices.
SN published its intellectual dismissal of me in its very edition, where it elevated the non-existent value of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA). In the same edition where I am relegated to a non-entity, SN gave the GHRA prominent coverage by making an anti-government press release of the GHRA on gold mining, its lead story. I ask the Guyanese people if it is not “unfortunate” (SN’s word) that it has given front page coverage to an organisation that is literally moribund and that the Guyanese people do not recognise as a functioning human rights group.

So what did the AG write about me in his missive last Sunday that led to SN’s emotional outburst against me? I quote from the AG. “The reading public, must by now, be acutely aware of the numerous articles written by Mr. Frederick Kissoon, accusing the Stabroek News of publishing the views of commentators who write critical of the Government but refusing to publish replies supportive of the Government from Dr. Randy Persaud. Stabroek News has never defended this accusation. Its veracity is therefore, inferred.”
What is the Randy Persaud scandal all about? Two years ago, Dr. Persaud (who incidentally is a presidential adviser) informed me that since his letters were not being published by SN, he sought an explanation from Mr. Anand Persaud, editor-in-chief. Dr. Persaud showed me the email reply by the editor in which he advised the presidential adviser that his letters will not be published because, in those correspondences (my word) Dr. Persaud attacks civil society groups.
I did a column on this attitude by SN because it was an unbelievable descent in the journalism of censorship. How can a newspaper refuse to print letters from a presidential adviser because such submissions attack some types of organisations? No decent, professional paper would ever go that route. If you cannot confront, in newspaper exchanges people you think ought to be exposed, then the Fourth Estate becomes a vehicle for censorship, the opposite of its raison d’être.
Since my

exposure to SN’s mistreatment of Dr. Randy Persaud two years ago, there has not been one, I repeat, not one, public comment on the issue by those folks who love to ridicule the government. I went further and exposed the abysmal professionalism of SN when the editor-in-chief declined to comment when I contacted him.
Finally, more than two years later, due to the AG’s letter last Sunday, we have seen a response from SN on the Randy Persaud debacle. I quote: “Mr Randy Persaud was told by this newspaper that ad hominen attacks on civil society organisations would not be tolerated.” I now ask decent people who believe in a free press, the right to be heard and democratic values, if they cannot see the danger, the abominable threat to press freedom by the words, “ad hominen.”
So the SN can deny publication of your views on an organisation that SN favours by dismissing your commentary as ad hominen attacks. Can the learned AG and others advise me what is an ad hominen attack?

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.