Dear Editor,
I respond to the editor’s note in Stabroek News on February 5, 2009 regarding my letter titled ‘SN caption on letter “distorted” its intent.’ Let me start by saying that the argument of the letter is not about whether newspapers all over the world reserve the right to caption letters and do not automatically accept titles appended by signatories, since I am au fait about this.
The argument is based on the deliberate twist of the major thrust of the title to achieve a selfish political agenda and to deliberately attempt to spark havoc among people. This was more of a ‘set up’ by SN to distort a letter to justify a conclusion which should be considered unacceptable; this does not comply with the ethics of journalism.
The Preamble to its Code of Ethics states that “Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility.”
There is nothing wrong with changing the title of the letter, but should Stabroek News feel the need to change a title of any letter in the future, they should ensure they adhere to the canons of journalism in order to reflect the relevant facts and significant points of view as contained in the letter. The thrust had to do with institution building at the commission.
Dr Prem Misir in his letter stated that “And for all intents and purposes, a 9 to10-year period into the formation and consolidation of a new institution really is a relatively short time to make definitive conclusions on its efficacy. And so, to present ‘reports’ as a marauding ploy at this time is inappropriate, unhealthy, and unkind when we should be addressing the issue of ‘institution building’ for the Integrity Commission.
“But regardless of where the commission is with respect to institution-building, the relevant personnel must comply with the law, as there is a functioning secretariat and the commission exists! And then there is the Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition Mr Robert Corbin signalling that the PNCR will not comply with the law governing the commission; his reason is that he is awaiting the judgment of the High Court on the legality of appointments to the Integrity Commission.”
There is no high court ruling at this time. And so, there has to be compliance with the law, in order to facilitate institution building. That is Dr Misir’s thrust – institution building facilitated through compliance.
Stabroek News once again faltered to grasp the point!
Yours faithfully,
Elizabeth Daly
Editor’s note:
We are perplexed as to how a headline which read, ‘The Integrity Commission has a functioning secretariat and there can be statutory meetings with or without a chairperson,’ which Dr Misir himself wrote in the first paragraph of his letter could possibly “spark havoc among people.” Furthermore, what possible “selfish political agenda” of ours could it serve, when the caption represented the segment of an argument put forward by Dr Misir himself?
In addition, if “Dr Misir’s thrust” was indeed “institution building facilitated through compliance,” then the title he wanted, namely, ‘Integrity Commission in the throes of institution-building’ hardly represented the gravamen of his argument either.
