The press freedom attack by the government on Stabroek News via the Department of Public Information (DPI) will enter its fourth month today with the newspaper not having received a single advertisement from the agency in October.
After Stabroek News (SN) went public on September 29 about the cut in ads, the DPI hurriedly issued a statement on September 30 blaming SN for the development after the newspaper had temporarily halted placements so that a $22.1m debt could be settled by the agency.
Yesterday, Stabroek News Editor-in-Chief (EiC) Anand Persaud said that the total cutoff of ads from DPI in October substantiated the newspaper’s position that SN was being punished for its forthright reportage on the government in the aftermath of the December 21, 2018 motion of no-confidence against it in Parliament.
Persaud said what might have begun as an attack on the newspaper from within DPI – headed by the Director of Public Information, Imran Khan – will now have to be considered as a full-blown campaign by the government which cannot now claim to be unaware of the situation.
The EiC said it is astounding that a government with two journalists at its apex: President David Granger and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo would be party to the cutoff of ads to SN in flagrant breach of the Inter-American press freedom Declaration of Chapultepec to which Guyana is a signatory.
Figures for October compiled by the SN advertising department show that DPI placed no ads with Stabroek News, while placing a whopping 5,663 column inches with the state-owned Guyana Chronicle and 4,102 column inches with the Kaieteur News. The Guyana Times received 27 column inches.
On September 30, following the SN news item on the ads cutback, DPI had said that the reduction of state advertisements to the newspaper was a result of its decision to suspend bookings in May until significant arrears were cleared.
Persaud in response had said that DPI’s contention was not credible as the newspaper has the right to protect itself from unsustainable debt and the more natural course of action for DPI would have been to assiduously bring the debt down so that ads could continue being placed with Stabroek News. Persaud said the action by the newspaper did result in a steady reduction of the debt and this should have been seen by DPI as a positive development and an opening to resume advertising. He said yesterday that the fact that the debt had come down rapidly showed that it was within the ability of DPI to accomplish this.
DPI had also said on September 30 that it and the government began to explore other avenues of reaching the public after the decision by SN not to accept placements temporarily.
“Digital media and radio advertising in particular came into focus. To compensate for advertising which Stabroek News blocked, DPI began advising ministries to place and increase advertising placements with various radio stations and digital media outlets along with television stations. DPI believes that given the vast reach of both digital media and radio government is receiving greater value on these platforms”, DPI said.
Persaud had said that this explanation was not credible as state ads for newspaper have certain formats and content that would not be appropriate for digital media or radio. Persaud said the explanation proffered by DPI was suspiciously similar to the codswallop offered by the Jagdeo administration in 2006 when it justified the removal of ads by saying that it was looking for more impact for its dollar without showing how that was achieved.
DPI further stated on September 30 that as part of the process triggered by Stabroek News’ `high-handed blockade’, it has reviewed the placement of newspaper advertising and had been advising ministries that based on all the available information, advertising in all four daily newspapers is not a mandatory or legal requirement.
“The requirement favours advertisements in only two print media. DPI has advised ministries that advertisements would be placed in two newspapers – Guyana Chronicle (as the state owned newspaper) and on a rotational basis with one of the other newspapers along with television, radio and digital media. There is a diversification of government advertising to include all media, not just newspapers. This system has commenced and as the newspaper with the widest daily circulation Kaieteur News has received the bulk of the rotation thus far. Stabroek News is included in the rotation …”, DPI had added.
Persaud had said these statements further undermined DPI’s arguments. He questioned how were any of the newspapers and digital media to learn about this new plan for state advertising. DPI had maintained a stony silence in the aftermath of the curtailing of ads to SN. It issued no statement or advisory to any media house so that they could be aware of the rotation of ads to media houses and that ads would now only be placed with two newspapers. This explanation was only presented after Stabroek News went public and some policy had to be fabricated, Persaud said, while adding that this was propaganda akin to the same type of arguments that had been floated by the Jagdeo administration.
Persaud yesterday noted that Stabroek News had endured the same treatment in 2006 from the Jagdeo administration and had fought the cutoff here and abroad. Persaud said that Stabroek News will do exactly this in the current case. The EiC said he was also astonished that a government that included the Alliance for Change (AFC) would so callously lend itself to this attack on press freedom when it was the space that was made available by SN to the AFC in 2004 to 2005 which triggered the cessation of ads in 2006 by the Jagdeo administration for 17 months.
Principle 7 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says, in part, “…the granting or withdrawal of government advertising may not be used to reward or punish the media or individual journalists.”
Principle 10 says “No news medium nor journalist may be punished for publishing the truth or criticising or denouncing the government”.
The Declaration had been signed in 2002 by then President Bharrat Jagdeo at a time when PM Nagamootoo was a PPP/C Parliamentarian.
Jagdeo on October 3rd this year said that his PPP/C administration “was wrong” to withdraw state advertising from Stabroek News in 2006.