Dear Editor,
I am writing this letter and trusting that it will be published in your newspaper for I am utterly disgusted with articles written on stories coming out of the Agency and this week-end was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Most of the information in the newspapers is not a true portrayal of what really was said and in the context it was said. There are statements made and put in quotes but are not the words used by the speaker. An example, “the child is to be screened by a psychologist becomes a child to be screened by a `physiologist.’” This is taken from an article in the Guyana Times newspaper on Sunday. This should never have passed the sub-editor and proof readers.
There was another article in the Chronicle recently on one of our programmes where “years” was used instead of months and the claim was I said years, but it clearly did not fit in the context and any skilled editor should have asked for the writer to do a re-check with the speaker. Since this was published I have been trying to have it corrected but to no avail. Getting editors to make corrections in their newspaper is like pulling teeth. So the inaccuracies are allowed to remain and become history. No longer can students and researchers rely on newspapers for accurate information.
Further, many of the stories taken from clients of the Agency are misleading and written to serve the purpose of the writer and the client. There is hardly any effort to strive for accuracy and the truth to be written, it is more for sensational news and to cast doubt on a person’s integrity and character. I have often been bitten. There is need in Guyana for a small claims Court so persons can seek quick redress which will result in writers and their editors taking more care in presenting news.
In my world of work I had exposure to working with an editor and I always say that if I did not do social work and chose the profession of a Probation Officer I would have become a journalist. I have been writing Court reports for years and know a thing or two about writing. Interviews can be done conversationally but the writer is expected to write Standard English and to ensure that they have the facts, not casting aspersions.
Yours faithfully,
Ann Greene
Director of Childcare & Protection
Agency
