Dear Editor,
I hope the withdrawal of government ads would not adversely impact on the existence of SN although it is difficult for one not to recognize the serious effects the withdrawal of ads would have on the paper. I hope the withdrawal of ads would be offset by their replacement with ads from the private sector.
I applaud SN for the principled position it has taken in its editorial and reporting of news.
The paper has balanced and fair reporting ever since it was founded in 1986 right after the December 1985 rigged elections.
This does not mean the paper has not made errors. But as best as I can remember, the paper owned up to its mistakes such as apologizing for its undercount of the crowd that showed up at the PPP/C rally in Linden last August. I don’t think the paper’s policy is to be a critic of the PPP/C government. There are many times when the paper came to the defence of the government especially after the 1997 and 2001 elections. The paper condemned the “mo fyah and slow fyah” policies of the opposition that inflamed tensions in the country. The paper has also stated on several occasions, from my memory, that the PPP/C government has not discriminated against any group of Guyanese. Admittedly, there have been critiques of certain government policies.
But one must not equate critique with an attack on government or being anti-government.
SN is a great newspaper. Guyanese at home and the diaspora at large are grateful to SN keeping us informed about homeland affairs especially during the dictatorship. It was a fearless newspaper. It stood up against threats even when it was attacked as being in conspiracy with the “Puttagee mafia” against the dictators. For many years, it was the only independent daily and people, including supporters and loyalists of the dictatorship, depended on it to know what was really happening in the country. I remember people would quickly grab up the scarce copies at the Guyanese stores in New York. There were hardly any unsold copies.
I would like to urge the government to rethink its position to withdraw ads from SN. I believe the government does get value for its money in placing ads in SN; so many Guyanese read the paper in North America. A better government policy would be an equitable distribution of ads among the papers.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram