-newspaper stands by article
Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy last evening issued a statement in which he said that former Jamaican Information Minister Robert Nesta Morgan had complained to him about a news item in yesterday’s Stabroek News about Guyana’s press freedom rating.
The news item was headlined `Press freedom rankings can be improved with more government transparency – says Jamaica minister’ and was based on the minister’s answer to a question from Stabroek News on how this country’s press freedom rating can be improved.
In his statement, McCoy said that Morgan released a statement that said that “At no point did I make a specific statement regarding Guyana… I find the story lacking context and wrong and it should be withdrawn. It essentially uses my speech to create a narrative I never said”.
Though Morgan contacted the reporter in question to express his displeasure over the news item, Stabroek News did not receive the statement cited by McCoy.
Stabroek News Editor-in-Chief Anand Persaud said that Morgan had been accurately reported.
He said that the reporter had contacted Morgan in light of his presence at the World Press Freedom Day activities in Guyana in May this year and had been asked in light of this country’s fall by 17 spots on the Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Index what advice would he give the government in ensuring that number improves.
The Minister’s response was “transparency”.
The reporter followed up by asking “So you are reiterating all you said at the WPFD (World Press Freedom Day) event?”
The Minister’s reply was “Yes. Transparency is the oxygen for democracy. Governments have nothing to fear. Be open and clear”.
Persaud said that the reporter had asked specifically about Guyana’s case and the minister’s response was therefore placed in that context. Persaud added that the newspaper stood by the report.
Among other things in his statement, McCoy said “In this extant situation, Stabroek (News) has not only pursued its unfair criticism of the government, but has sought to impugn the good name of a minister of another government. In all instances of unfair and unethical journalism directed towards our government from any section of the local media, we will retain our right to respond and defend our credentials and record. Meanwhile, in the interest of the preservation of all aspects of our democratic ecosystem, the private media in Guyana must return and stick to unjaundiced professional practice as required by the conventions that underpin its global ethos, and leave politics exclusively to political parties”.
