Dear Editor,
I feel compelled to add a bit to the issue raised by Saywack/ Charles and Dave Martins on ‘negative journalism’. It is important to clarify at the onset that I have tremendous respect for Dave Martins as a legendary contributor to Caribbean culture. This piece deals strictly with the issue, not personalities.
Perhaps Saywack/ Charles would care to clarify what exactly is ‘negative journalism’. As someone who explored broadcast journalism (more as a hobby) for a few years, this is a term that has always piqued my interest. Simply put, what can be negative about reporting the truth especially based on cold hard facts such as event-based occurences? Crime is a typical example – is journalism negative when it exposes the reality that Georgetown Guyana and Kingston Jamaica have the highest per capita homicide rates in the Caribbean, if not the hemisphere? Trust me, there are many reasons certain persons may even view this as ‘good’ news! Think of the political opposition, for example, who could justifiably use this information as a means to argue governmental ineptitude. Or the owners of private security firms, who will never be out of business when crime is escalating. Wouldn’t this be ‘positive journalism’ too in the circumstances?
The Stabroek News is quite capable of defending itself, in terms of the balance in its reporting. However, I firmly believe that the media has a duty to let the truth be known, whether or not this might be unpalatable to the state’s propaganda machinery. Unlike Dave Martins, I have lived in Guyana long enough to know that there are actually a lot of so-called ‘negatives’ occurring every day that don’t even make it to the media – either due to lack of resources, or our tendency to highlight the sensational. The latter (sensationalism) is merely human nature. How many pieces of jewellery are stolen in broad daylight every day at Stabroek Square/ downtown GT? How many families lose their laundry simply put out to dry in the sun? How many chicken pens get cleaned out by burglars in rural Guyana every night? How many spouses are physically abused and choose to stay quiet out of fear? How many bullets are fired daily from unlicensed firearms, to rob and intimidate? These are considered mundane, even boring – yet they significantly impact persons, families, every day! The stark reality is that there is a breakdown of law and order in our society, which the media has a duty to highlight – especially to visitors, a group Saywack/ Charles seems particularly concerned about. Mr. Martins, the risks that come with talking an evening stroll, with the latest apparel and ‘bling’, on The Strand, Grand Cayman, is vastly different from doing the same on The Strand, Berbice.
Finally, on the issue of bias, the fact that both sides of the political divide in Guyana have levelled similar ‘anti-Government’ accusations to the Stabroek News while in power, with the paper under the same ownership and editorial direction, speaks volumes about its objectivity. That is a lot more than we can honestly say for most other media houses in Guyana. And that, Mr. Editor – the deliberate subterfuge of fact by the others to paint an unrealistic picture – is what construes negative journalism in my mind.
Yours faithfully,
Dennis Bahadur
