Dear Editor,
The opposition media in Guyana is bordering on an excess of bias against the PPP/C government. This section of the media is becoming more blatant in peddling half-truths and misinformation as unofficial agents of the opposition parties.
Their bias is an abuse of the media freedom fostered and encouraged by the very administration they often seek to castigate, relegate and criticize. It is a sickening level of journalism that goes against professional responsibilities, ethics and standards.
The striking irony is their claim about the absence of freedom of the press while on the other hand they freely and openly launch public attacks against the government. There are numerous examples of their unsubstantiated, unfactual and meritless allegations levelled against the PPP/C government.
On almost every single issue flagged by the opposition, predictably Stabroek News and Kaieteur News, being among the lead culprits, faithfully carry the opposition line and positions, without greater preference for those emanating from the AFC. In most cases, the PNCR is guaranteed publicity when their lines cross with the AFC.
These culprits often find clever ways to either shut out or water down government views, programmes and projects entirely. This is a tactic deliberately used by the opposition media to dilute the significance of positive achievements by the incumbent administration. It plays directly off the strategy of the opposition that extends to falsehood.
It is easy to detect the impiety by these culprits who constantly carry subtle campaigns on behalf of the opposition through their slanted headlines and stories that put spins seeking to project the opposition, in particular the AFC, in a positive light, while trying to demonize the government.
This widespread and pervasive bias contravenes the standards of journalism and demands the speedy establishment of a regulatory authority to sanction media houses for such gross unprofessionalism. This freedom is being abused and no one is holding the media accountable for the daily garbage they generate.
There is no misunderstanding on my part of the selectivity theory in journalism that presents limitations to media neutrality, but the evidence points to a clever, deliberate and orchestrated plan between this section of the media and the opposition to work for the same political cause.
There is a deep anti-government bias in the media and practised by the media, one that begins from the premise of a deep, entrenched hatred for the PPP/C. I think this is a hangover from an elitist mentality.
There must be diversity in the newsroom, not because of some quota, but because you have to have diversity to cover the story well and cover all aspects of a society. And you don’t have religious people making the decisions about where coverage is focused.
Yours faithfully,
Kwame McCoy
