Dear Editor,
Please allow the GPA Executive a few lines to respond to a letter published on 14th April, 2019 with the headline `The Attorney General did not attack Stabroek News’ and signed by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams.
The letter we would assume, is in response to GPA’s letter to the Attorney General dated 27th February, 2019 in which the GPA detailed its call on the Attorney General to apologise for his comments, particularly that Stabroek News, “is the garbage disposal bin for the PPP” and “cavorting in bed with the PPP”.
GPA stands by its letter and calls for an apology as we find the comments offensive and an attack on a media house. The GPA feels there are certain channels and better ways to deal with his grouses than calling a media house a garbage bin and any self-respecting public office holder would use those remedies.
We note that the Minister did not retract the statement listed above but went on to list complaints, including a letter to the editor of which only the writer and the newspaper can and should respond to.
As it relates to the story of the alleged resignation of the State Solicitor, it must be pointed out that the article was later corrected to represent the AG office’s public statement and denial of the issue.
The Attorney General seems to have an obsession with the way he is portrayed and covered in the media for which we do not hold the remedy. The GPA is not sure what laudatory coverage the AG is looking for from the media but we stand by the very principles listed by the Attorney General in his letter and once again remind him there are other avenues to address whatever his grouses are with the media.
Yours faithfully,
Nazima Raghubir,
Zoisa Fraser,
Svetlana Abrams,
Fareeza Haniff,
Denis Chabrol
and Rawle Toney
GPA Executive
