Dear Editor,
The government and, in particular, the Department of Public Information (DPI) have offered explanations for reducing the placement of state ads in the Stabroek News. Frankly, the explanations fail to outweigh the negatives in the decision. Even if we buy the argument that SN may have started the fight, it is a case the government cannot win where it matters—in the arena of informed public opinion. From a purely political perspective, the DPI’s decision does the government more harm than good.
In the coalition’s efforts (mission-critical as they must be) to palpably distinguish its tenure from the PPP’s 23 years of bad governance, this fallout with one of the country’s widely-read newspapers does not advance that objective. It blurs the distinction between the two parties at a time when that distinction is most needed, with an election on the horizon.
I sense that most government supporters are discomforted by this run-in with Stabroek News, despite their valid complaints about the newspaper. What supporters want (and have wanted all along) to see are far more frequent and robust responses from the coalition to the almost daily criticisms levelled against it by the PPP and the newspapers. My advice: the government should restore the ads, claim the high ground, and change the topic.
Yours faithfully,
Sherwood Lowe