For the third month in a row, as seen in the graph above, the Guyana Times (GT) has secured more Government Information Agency (GINA) advertisements than the Kaieteur News (KN). GT’s allocation was just slightly below that of Stabroek News. The Guyana Chronicle continues to receive the lion’s share followed by Stabroek News, the Guyana Times, Kaieteur News and the Mirror newspaper.

The allocation to the Guyana Times, which has been in business for just two years, has raised questions about the criteria used by GINA in its apportioning of ads. Observers have also argued that the reason why GINA ads were restored to Stabroek News in 2008 was to enable the placement of some of these ads in the Guyana Times. GINA ads were withdrawn by the state from Stabroek News between November 2006 and April 2008 on the grounds that the government’s advertising policy required the placing of ads in the Guyana Chronicle and one private newspaper with the biggest audience which the government arbitrarily identified as Kaieteur News. The policy was changed without notification when ads were restored to SN in April, 2008. The Guyana Times began receiving GINA ads in 2009 and in recent months has overtaken the Kaieteur News.