The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has requested that the withdrawal of advertisements from Stabroek News by the government of Guyana be placed on the agenda of the meeting of Caricom heads of government in Port-of-Spain in April.
In a letter to Edwin Carrington, Secretary General of the Caribbean Community Secretariat, dated 26th March, 2008, Gonzalo Marroquin, Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information of IAPA noted that since November, 2006, the Government of Guyana has withdrawn advertisements from Stabroek News by some 29 government ministries, agencies and state-owned corporations. The boycott has been extended to ads placed by the Auditor General, the police force and the Guyana Defence Force.
IAPA says that in 2007, a regional media team, which included Harold Hoyte of Barbados and Guyanese journalist, Rickey Singh, had proposed to President Bharrat Jagdeo that a fair mechanism be devised for allocating ads. This suggestion was reinforced by the Office of the Special Rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission Human Rights. The President ignored the suggestion.
IAPA says that the action of the government in withdrawing advertisements from Stabroek News constitutes a breach of Principles 2, 6 & 7 of the Declaration of Chapultepec which provide as follows:
2. Every person has the right to seek and receive information, express opinions and disseminate them freely. No one may restrict or deny these rights.
6. The media and journalists should neither be discriminated against nor favored because of what they write or say.
7. Tariff and exchange policies, licenses for the importation of paper or news-gathering equipment, the assigning of radio and television frequencies and the granting or withdrawal of government advertising may not be used to reward or punish the media or individual journalists.
It notes that President Jagdeo had endorsed the Declaration for Guyana on the 24th day of May, 2002.
Chairman Morroquin points out in his letter that the withdrawal of advertisements by the government has been condemned by IAPA, the Commonwealth Press Union, and the International Press Institute. Editorials and news items have been published in the print and electronic media throughout the region criticizing the withdrawal of ads and calling for a fair and transparent system of allocation of government advertisements. He contends, however, that “more needs to be done” as the government continues to use taxpayers monies to punish the Stabroek News for its independence and critical editorial coverage.
