The Guyana Press Association (GPA) yesterday raised concerns that a two-day media conference organised by the government promoted self-censorship under the guise of responsible reporting and that there was a conflation of journalism with other aspects of communication including social media influencing.
In a statement, the press association underlined the primacy of freedom of expression as underlined in the constitution of Guyana and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Based on utterances from a number of government officials including its panelists, the undertone appeared to be engaged in self-censorship under the guise of “responsibility” and “good”. In this regard, we commend the globally recognised Journalism Ethics, Principles and Codes of Conduct”, the GPA said.
It added that much of the debates and disagreements at the conference appeared to flow from the decision by the organisers to conflate journalism, public relations practice and social media influence.
“Whether or not this was the intent, it was a grave error as each category of communication has its own role”, the GPA said.
It added that Social Media influencers, though they command a following, “cannot and will not be regarded as journalists and they should never contemplate seeing themselves as such”.
The GPA said: “If politicians across the divide claim to have any modicum of interest in improving the standard of journalism, then they ought to immediately cease utilizing social media influencers in the place of journalists. To continue doing so is to contribute to the degradation of journalism at the altar of expediency of reach, likes and shares. In this way, sections of the public are led to believe that such social media content is in keeping with globally accepted standards of journalism. Does this mean that anyone with a few followers, limited language competence, no regard for fact-checking etc. can be regarded by himself or herself and the public as a journalist because a politician uses him or her as an information conduit?”
It contended that the next national World Press Freedom Conference should be jointly organised with the Guyana Press Association and focus on journalism. This conference was organised by the Office of the Prime Minister.
“We reiterate our support for media and communication training. However, we believe that these should be provided through the University of Guyana which is an accredited tertiary institution”, the GPA said.
A key part of the conference was the launch of the Guyana Media and Communication Academy.
The event was addressed on Wednesday by President Irfaan Ali.
