Dear Editor,
Now that the storm in a teacup in relation to the reported dispute between Freddie Kissoon and the publisher of the Kaieteur News has passed, I wish to make a few pertinent observations on this brief episode. I refrained from doing so earlier because, over the years, I have learned not to get involved in matters of ‘kissing cousins.’ In view of its resolution, this matter now provides an opportunity for a “teachable moment,” to borrow a phrase from US President Barack Obama.
I had no doubt that Mr Kissoon would have been reinstated as a columnist of Kaieteur News. Mr Kissoon is a golden goose for the paper and one is not inclined to easily get rid of such a valuable asset. However, he crossed a sacred boundary in going after a fellow columnist both publicly and in private e-mail in the manner he did. Consequently, management had no choice but to take some kind of action. It is not without significance that, although he is the one who had demanded an apology from his fellow columnist Stella Ramsaroop, he is the one who has now offered apology to her. So, they have all kissed and made-up and will be working again happily together.
In looking at this matter from an employee-management perspective, I believe the management of Kaieteur News has to accept its share of responsibility for contributing to the initial fall-out. In a short stint I spent with Bookers Sugar Estates in 1970, I learned of the importance of ‘custom and practice’ in labour relations. Over the years many, including myself, have written that Freddie is guilty of misrepresenting and misstating facts.
Yet, he was allowed to present his position in the paper routinely without even an editorial note of caution.
Hence, it was logical for him to conclude that he was working in an environment where anything goes. This approach contrasts with Ben Bradlee’s (then editor of the Washington Post) position in dealing with his star reporters in the Watergate scandal involving then US President Richard Nixon. Bradlee was known to pull a column instead of publishing it when he was not satisfied that journalists Woodward and Bernstein had enough evidence to support a story.
In my view, the next error in judgement came when Ms Ramsaroop, a colleague, was asked to speak to Mr Kissoon about the perceived wrongdoing. Management cannot abdicate its responsibility in dealing with an unpleasant situation by delegating the task to a colleague of the employee believed to be guilty of an infraction.
This is akin to President Jagdeo asking one of his ministers to speak to Minister Kellawan Lall about his behaviour in the Mon Repos shooting incident some years ago, something the press would have severely criticized if he did, and rightly so. I believe that Ms Ramsaroop took on the task of speaking to Mr Kissoon quite innocently, because she genuinely felt she could help to resolve an impasse, and because of the informality in the paper’s operating environment. In hindsight, she may have realized now that she was placed in an untenable position and her attempt at public banter backfired.
Notwithstanding the preceding, Mr Kissoon is not absolved of his behaviour in this incident. A columnist should not play fast and loose with the facts, even if it relates to one paragraph in ten or twenty. More importantly, the sending of personal e-mail to a fellow columnist which is likely to cause grief and hurt, as may have been the case, could constitute harassment and must not be tolerated.
Now, as it becomes all lovey-dovey back at Kaieteur News, readers are left to ponder:
Was Mr Kissoon telling the truth when in Stabroek News of April 6, he wrote, “He [Kissoon] alleged that in the past, Lall had told him that he would not allow any criticism of Ramotar” or when he said, according to the same Stabroek News letter, “The only thing I would say is that the stopping of the column has to do with the [selection] of Mr Donald Ramotar …”? As well, Stella notes in her column, “Freddie’s journalistic ethics were certainly lacking in the column in question.” One wonders in how many other columns which were never questioned by the editor or the publisher were Freddie’s journalistic ethics lacking?
Yours faithfully,
Harry Hergash
