… MMU October report
– cites Kaieteur News for printing and publishing racially divisive information
The second Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) report was released on Tuesday, stressing the need to ensure that equitable reporting is not sacrificed on the altar of political expediency – making it clear that equitable reporting should not be confused with equal. The report said, “The point being made here is that it is a media house democratic right to support whichever political party it fancies, but, at the same time, in the interest of promoting a level playing field, one should not sacrifice equitable reporting on the altar of political expediency.”
The report also pointed out that it is hoped that media houses would in future, manifest a greater willingness to provide equitable coverage to all four of main political parties cleared to contest this year’s elections – all in keeping with the letter and spirit of the Media Code of Conduct.

DIVISIVE INFORMATION
Kaieteur News was cited by the MMU for the printing and publishing of racially divisive information.
The MMU report noted that this brings to the fore the need for owners, managers and editors in both the print and broadcast media to be always fastidious about information being disseminated through the talk-shows and commentaries (broadcast media), and editorials, columns and letters-to-the-editor (print media), since, as we are all aware, it is these sections of the media that exercise the most influence on the formation and concretising of public opinion on issues.
“The history of past elections in this country, (1992 to 2001) out of which parallels were drawn and correlations made about the media’s negative role/impact on race-relations in this country, should never be forgotten, especially at this time, with another elections due in another two weeks,” the report said.
The first violation, according to the report, was observed in a letter in the Wednesday, October, 12, 2011 edition of the Newspaper captioned “Blacks are responsible for their failing” (pg. 5), written by Godfrey Skeete.
The letter read, “I feel terribly ashamed as a Black Man to see our people, more so our youths, perpetrating criminal acts. Our prison population has 75% blacks. This was even under the Burnham and Hoyte administrations” (para. 3).
The MMU’s report stated that after checking was done, the Unit duly informed the editor of the newspaper that the above quoted statistic was unsubstantiated, inaccurate, and racially divisive, since there are no public records to validate same.
The second violation was observed in a column published in the Wednesday, October, 26, 2011 edition of the newspaper captioned “Sempiternal light versus eternal evil: Memories of Diwali” (pg.10), written by Frederick Kissoon, in which the writer made the following stereotypical and derogatory remarks about a particular racial grouping in the country, in clear contravention of Section B 4 of the Code.
The column read, “Burnham’s venalities, the depravities of a Black Government are long gone but replaced by Indian debaucheries, Indian immoralities and Indian hegemony” (para. 7, line 2).
“The Unit took the informed position that because the writer insensitively used the term ‘Indian’ in a generalized sense, it came over as highly stereotypical and contemptuous of Indians as a distinct racial group in this country, and as such, the statement should have been editorially excised because of its divisive nature,” the report said.

OPINION POLLS
According to the report, the Unit noted the publishing of Opinion Polls as news items in both the print and broadcast media.
“Our reservations stem from the fact that the publishing of these polls did not conform to the standards laid down by the Media Code of Conduct. In the circumstance, it might be in everyone’s interest (especially media operatives) to acquaint/re-acquaint with Section ‘K’ of the Code which speaks to the commissioning and publishing of polls.
“It states, inter-alia: Opinion polls need very careful handling. The media recognize that inaccurate, unprofessional, sometimes deliberately false opinion polls give a totally distorted view of the truth of public opinion or voting intentions. The publication of them without investigation of their accuracy is the antithesis of good journalism. The media recognize the need to discover the date, location, financial backing and methodology of such surveys, including the organization or person commissioning the poll and the organization conducting the survey, the number of persons interviewed, the questions asked and the margin of error. Only when satisfied with the validity of the poll should it be published giving those facts along with the poll results itself,” the report said.
The MMU report added that the Unit assumes that media houses are making concerted efforts to adhere to the Media Code of Conduct by putting in their own internal and external sources of verification of poll results before publication.