Dear Editor,
A perusal of the headlines of our newspapers in Guyana demonstrates they carry stories of murders, domestic violence and robberies. This has now become a trend especially with respect to the Stabroek News and the Kaieteur News.
Development support communication has certainly taken a back seat and the population is being fed with an unchanging menu of sensationalism and gloom.
The Stabroek News of January 7,2014 carried a front page caption ‘Cop killed trying to nab armed escapee’ along with three other front page blurbs: ‘BV man shot dead at Liliendaal’ ; ‘Spurned lover charged with murder’; ‘Nude body of missing Pomeroon woman found.’
In similar vein, Kaieteur News of the same day had the following as its lead story: ‘Prisoner disarms cop, shoots detective dead,’ and on the same page in less bold letters ‘Body at Liliendaal identified as taxi driver; Five teens nabbed on highway with victim’s car.’
I thought of drawing attention to these sensational headlines if only to point to the dangers of a perception, especially among overseas based Guyanese, that Guyana is a crime-infested society where fear stalks the land and people are at risk of being robbed or even killed. I know of several overseas Guyanese who are afraid of coming back to Guyana out of fear for their safety and would rather go on vacations to other destinations in the Caribbean and elsewhere even though in many of those destinations the per capita crime rate including that of murder is much higher.
I rather suspect that much of that perception of Guyana as a crime haven is the result of media sensationalism. The desire to sell newspapers, it would appear, outweighs the national interest and the negative image that is being projected of the country, both at home and abroad.
I would like to respectfully suggest that newspapers, and for that matter the media as a whole, revisit the content and presentation of news. The sensationalist ‘man bites dog’ approach to presenting news may be good in terms of selling papers or grabbing media attention, but it could also do harm to our nation especially from a tourism perspective.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
