The Government Information Agency (GINA) last evening said it was responsible for the issuing of photographs of six wanted men on Friday night.
In a statement responding to a report in yesterday’s Stabroek News (SN) which complained that this newspaper had not received the photographs, GINA said that it was unfortunate that SN would claim that there had been a selective release of information as GINA’s records show that the “photographs were indeed electronically sent to the newspaper at 11.57 pm on February 22, 2008.”
GINA further noted that all of its releases/bulletins/photographs for public dissemination are sent electronically to the media, including Stabroek News, on a daily basis.
In a comment, SN Editor Anand Persaud said that the newspaper has no record of receiving the photographs. He noted that GINA press releases are usually sent to the Stabroek News email address stabroeknews@stabroeknews.com but that a check of this address last evening did not show any trace of the photos being sent on Friday night.
Furthermore, Persaud said that considering the unusual time that the photos were purportedly sent and their importance, one would have expected that someone from GINA would have followed up to ensure that the newspaper was made aware of the dissemination of the photos. This was not done.
Persaud said that this would not be the first time that GINA has discriminated in the issuing of press releases and he has complained about this in the past. Moreover, Persaud said that Capitol News has since advised SN that it had also not received the photographs.
The Editor also expressed surprise that the photos had been released by GINA supposedly on behalf of the police. Persaud said that the police force itself appeared to be caught unawares by the release of the photos and had been unable to say where they had come from. He said that the police have established channels for the delivery of press releases to the media and these could have been easily utilized for the photos. Persaud said it appeared that the photos were generated through a process outside of normal police channels and this was disconcerting and there should be a fuller explanation.
Up to press time, SN had not received the photos as GINA said it was having technical difficulties.
