The Department of Public Information (DPI) yesterday issued a statement in response to a news item in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek about a miniaturizing of state advertisements to this newspaper but provided no explanations.
The news item headlined `DPI cuts state ads in Stabroek News’ had outlined how since August ads had been substantially reduced and were a mere trickle in September. The newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief Anand Persaud was reported in the news item as saying that the cut in state ads was a crude attempt to muzzle the newspaper for its forthright reporting on constitutional violations by the government.
Prior to yesterday’s statement, DPI had not given any firm word to Stabroek News since early August about why ads were not being placed and letters to the Director of Public Information, Imran Khan and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo went unanswered and unacknowledged.
In its statement yesterday, DPI said that the news item in the Sunday Stabroek “is wholly erroneous, misleading and mischievous. DPI rejects the article”.
It said that Stabroek News has received payment of over $50 million for advertising via DPI for 2019, far in excess of even the state-owned Guyana Chronicle. It added that several government entities have booked advertising directly with Stabroek News which would put this figure significantly higher.
In a comment, Persaud said he would be surprised if indeed Stabroek News had been paid more than the Guyana Chronicle for state advertising this year. He said in September Stabroek News was granted 168 column inches – and only because a government agency insisted on the placing of an ad – while the Chronicle racked up 8,537 column inches. Persaud said it is either that the Chronicle was not being paid for ads placed with it or was charging peppercorn rates. Either way, he said, that would be unacceptable behaviour in the handling of state advertisements.
DPI then went on to say that “It was, in fact, Stabroek News, of its own volition, which took the unprecedented action of formally writing to DPI stating that the newspaper will refuse to take government advertising, thereby effectively blocking government advertising from the newspaper”.
Persaud said that SN was well within its right to take steps to protect itself from a possible uncollectible debt in light of the fact that general elections could have been called at any point. He said the suggestion in the DPI statement that this was the reason why ads had not been resumed in full ran counter to the government’s obligation under the Declaration of Chapultepec where it was prohibited from using state ads to punish or reward media houses. Persaud said that the newspaper’s advice to DPI was successful in bringing down the debt and clearing the way for a normal resumption of ads.
During the period he said there would have been nothing that prohibited emergency government ads being carried.
DPI added that a “thorough and comprehensive response and presentation of all the unvarnished facts is being prepared and this will be released to the media and public tomorrow, Monday, September 30”.
Persaud said he welcomed this declaration as Stabroek News had sought for months to elicit answers from DPI and the Director of Public Information to no avail.