Dear Editor,
I write to bring to your attention a statement made in your editorial captioned “Mother of all inquiries” (08.02.14) which proffered the view that “attempts to manipulate explanations of both past and present events through suppressing facts and suggesting falsehoods through state owned media have been common practice of both parties in Government.”
As you are no doubt aware the merger of GTV and GBC saw the establishment of NCN Inc as the state owned radio and television network of Guyana. Our operations have been re-engineered along functional lines and both our Newsroom and General Programming departments are headed by seasoned media personnel who would be happy to respond to any specific instance which you may care to highlight.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Sattaur
Chief Executive Officer
National Communication Network Inc
Editor’s note
The editorial’s purpose, in part, was to call attention to the tendency of state media to purvey information which is favourable to the administration. This is done by suppressing facts or by failing to publish occasions on which promises made by state officials have not been fulfilled. There have been numerous examples of this tendency.
In the field of the media, for example, we quote the self-explanatory section of the report of the US Department of State Human Rights Report for 2006:
“Two independent groups monitored the media during the election campaign. The Independent Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) monitored and rated the pre-election coverage of radio, television, and print, while the Independent Refereeing Panel assessed compliance with the Media Code of Conduct voluntarily signed by media outlets in January. Both groups noted numerous incidents of unbalanced or biased coverage, including unfair use of state-controlled media by the ruling party, such as the airing of pro-party documentaries. The ruling party received 64 percent of positive political coverage on the state-owned National Communications Network television channel, with nine opposition parties sharing the remaining positive coverage.”
In the field of public safety, as another example, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported on 26 October 2006 that the Minister of Home Affairs had promised that “A series of aerial surveillance have [sic] been conducted and will continue, as well as an increase in the number of police patrols, following attacks on residents of Mundesir [sic], Canal Number Two Polder, West Bank Demerara, on October 24.” Is it true that aerial surveillance in that area has continued since that date?
GINA similarly reported on 26 August 2007 that Mr Rohee had promised to investigate complaints against the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard raised by fishermen of Albion and No 66 who had been attacked by pirates and who told him “when we needed help from the Coast Guard they deliberately neglected us.”
Has the investigation promised by the minister been completed? On the same day, Mr Rohee promised residents of the Corentyne that “Very soon we will be implementing a Crime Stoppers Programme.” Has the programme been introduced?
It is the view of this newspaper that the state media have a public obligation to report fully, accurately and in a balanced manner at all times.
