– in tribute to David de Caires
The Guyana Press Association (GPA) said “a fighter has fallen” in a statement on the passing yesterday of David de Caires, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Stabroek News.
Paying tribute to de Caires, the GPA declared that the “Guyanese and Caribbean media fraternity have lost a hero of the modern press.”
It noted that de Caires, a British-trained solicitor, always had a passion for journalism, a craft he practiced to perfection along with long-time legal colleague, Senior Counsel Miles Fitzpatrick.
This passion eventually fructified in 1986 with the establishment of the Stabroek News, Guyana’s first privately-owned daily newspaper since the 1970s, when the political economy had forced the closure of several private newspapers, the GPA recalled.
According to the press association, “[his] greatest contribution to Guyana’s era of glasnost and perestroika, therefore, was the opening up of the media landscape after a period of considerable state-control and authoritarianism under various guises by the then administration.”
While de Caires’ name is etched in the annals of Guyanese and Caribbean media history for being instrumental in slackening the clutches of state control on the media several decades ago, the GPA asserted, “he will more latterly be remembered for his valiant struggle against the withdrawal of government advertisements from the Stabroek News…”
Though that appeared to be a private business matter, the GPA observed, “he led Guyanese of all walks of life in defiance against all odds not only for his entity but for the entire country whose daily decision-making depend on authentic and credible information.
“For him and all those who stood by his side, Guyana must never go back to the dark ages of state control of the media and set a precedent for other countries of this region to follow.”
The GPA also noted that “his was a life of struggle-to-success, dating back to the early days of Stabroek News at the corner of Peter Rose and Anira streets, Queenstown, when the staff had scooped its competitor and delivered the truth with either non-existent or limited telephone service.”
As if that was not enough, the GPA recalled, the newspaper’s content had to be flown each week to Trinidad to be printed and returned later in the week for distribution.
The GPA also acknowledged his Caribbean connections to the Barbados Nation; Jamaica Gleaner and Trinidad Express, adding that “eventually Guyana Publications Incorporated acquired a printing press and benefited from technical expertise provided by sister-newspapers in the Caribbean, resulting in the Stabroek News growing into a daily news staple.”
The GPA conveyed its heartfelt condolences to his immediate family, relatives, the Board of Directors and staff of the Stabroek News, and his friends in the Guyanese and Caribbean media fraternity.
“In mourning his loss, we must sustain the torchlight of freedom, truth and justice for which he fought,” the GPA concluded as it expressed confidence that “his contribution to the media landscape will be long cherished and perpetuated by his competent team of editors and staff.”
