Dear Editor,
Well, well, well Nazima Raghubir has awakened from her years of slumber as Head of the Guyana Press Association (GPA). She suddenly has a voice and saying today as to who should and should not be referred to as journalists a mere cry to stay relevant from the traditional mass media as digital journalism gains much traction across the entire world, including Guyana. I am referring to the GPA statement issued after the two day government sponsored World Press Freedom Day events (that too was a wasteful way to spend taxpayers’ monies as what did it accomplish?)
Oh Nazima/GPA, just up your game to compete with the ever-fast moving, fast paced world of digital journalism and citizen journalists across the spectrum rather than cry like a baby about the unfair treatment. We live in a time where the public does not wait until the next day to read news in the papers, or to find out what happened in their neighborhoods when digital journalists have already done the ground work and have disseminated the information in a faster and quicker manner than how it would take the traditional mass media to operate. So please Nazima/GPA, stop the pity party and get with the programme. You cannot stop this powerful movement taking place around the world taking place right before your eyes. Truth be told, this is just the beginning of the age of digital journalism.
So I could care less about who are defined social media influencers or not, or who carries a media badge or press pass or not. That’s the fancy stuff. What matters is the product they put out. Always being on the ground, not in their offices and telephones doing phone interviews. But being out there, being Live and streaming; talking to the people. I would have you know that many of our digital journalists work harder than some of the traditional reporters in the mass media. A government may wish to use whichever medium or entity to get its message out and to continue doing so, it does not contribute to “the degradation of journalism at the altar of expediency of reach, likes and shares”, Nazima. Don’t be bitter if the bulk of the population prefers to get its information and news from social media news blogs and digital journalists, because that is the way we are heading.
The Guyanese Critic commands the bulk of digital media following in Guyana, and it is totally up to the Government of Guyana (GoG) if they want to use his platform to get their messages out in real time. Rodrigues and I haven’t always seen eye-to- eye but he does a darn whole lot more in the fields and ground work and journalism than many in the traditional mass media. So, dear Nazima, you do not get to tell me who can and cannot be called a journalist just because others in the digital world seem to be doing a much better job than the traditional mass media. May the better form of journalism win?
Sincerely,
Leon Suseran
Little Guyana-592 News
Queens, New York
