Dear Editor,
I write again in disgust at most television newscasts that are not living up to their mandate and upholding the credibility of the media house that broadcasts their news. If one watches a TV newscast just for the news itself, then I believe all would be accepted and A-OK. But when I look at a newscast, I look at the quality of the cast; the posture of the newscaster; the enunciation of words and grammar; pronunciation; slant of news item; whether the item has been edited for a given direction or bias; video and audio quality and so much more. The most important element of any newscast, like it or not, is the news presenter.
One of the presenters in Berbice leaves much to be desired. The job as a news presenter just doesn’t cut it for her. No longer do we have quality news presenters in Berbice as we did a few years ago. Those presenters have all migrated or found new jobs in the private sector, jobs that paid them better, though I am sure they did not take lightly leaving something that they loved.
But when you hear things like ‘incooperated’ instead of incorporated, ‘electorial’ instead of electoral, ‘reconizing’ instead of recognizing, ‘voilence’ instead of violence, ‘alcoahl’ instead of alcohol, ‘semi-autonominus’ instead of semi-autonomous, and many other pronunciation blunders this letter would not have space for, one cringes. How can a reporter say, “Mr… spoke of this and that” rather than saying, “Mr… spoke about this and that?”
The name of the Surinamese president is now pronounced differently. It is no longer ‘Bowter-say’ (Bouterse) but rather, ‘Booters’ (Bouterse), according to Channel 10.
I am no English specialist. I make mistakes too. In fact, my UG lecturers, especially Ms Hunter would, from time to time, urge me to pay attention to my structure, especially in my letters. I do not have a degree in English, though I had wanted to pursue same. I am carrying an English course at the moment and know so many language specialists in our dear land of Guyana. And I interact often with these people, who have in some little way inspired me to love English, which is said to be one of the most difficult languages to learn, owing to the fact that it keeps evolving. In Guyana, our language specialists who have their Bachelors and some of whom have their Masters Degrees in the English language include quite a few lecturers currently employed by the University of Guyana.
There is a terrible trend to misuse the language in this country. The University of Guyana has its ENG 115 course which is mandatory for all students who enter the university. This course is essential and lays the groundwork for students embarking on their studies. The Berbice campus is now offering higher learning studies in English, namely an Associate Degree in English. I had protested about this last year.
But for the love of all that is good, tell me, how can our news presenters and reporters butcher English like this? ‘Back-to-school’ was never hyphenated much in the last few weeks both in the newspapers and on TV. The same goes for ‘last-minute.’ I saw a death announcement report a few months ago on the TV where two persons – a husband and wife – were shown in the same announcement, yet it read: ‘Death Announcement’ instead of Death Announcements – “The death is announced of Mr… and Mrs…” was still typed and read too.
The sad part is that they do not care, not the reporters, the news presenters or the television station management. It’s simply business as usual each Monday morning regardless of what the letter columns of the newspapers said about them and their sorry newscasts the previous weekend. I think what fuels this kind of nonchalant behaviour is the poor reaction and acceptance by the public of news presentation. I must mention names like Vivian Williams, Denise Bachan, Christopher Holder, Melissa Johnson, Dennis Bahadur, Hardat Singh, Namila Baynes-Henry, Delina Cummings all from Channel 10, Tommy Rhodes, Andrea Khan, and Roy Babel from VCT 28. Those men and women brought some amount of dignity and dynamism to journalism in Guyana, especially in Berbice where their voices were heard. Where are they today? Those who haven’t migrated for greener pastures have ventured into other business scenarios while others have new employers – and better- paying ones too. They, too, I am sure, cringe when they see and hear what newscasts – some of the same casts that they worked on – have become today.
But then again, everybody that’s in the news business, especially on TV, is just‘doing it’ for the sake of ‘doing it.’ I can count the really passionate TV journalists with my fingers that are in Guyana today. Where are we heading? Is it any wonder English results are always as poor as they are each year at CXC? It’s because the atrocious misuse of the language on the TV newscasts and on television in general is rubbing off on the children of Guyana and the population in general.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
