The Guyana Press Association (GPA) has expressed dismay at the treatment meted out by politicians to media workers in the course of their official duties including displays of aggression and vulgarity, and the sidelining of journalists and media houses deemed to be ‘not friendly.’
In a release yesterday, the GPA reported that over the past several months, some of its members across the country have voiced concerns about acts of harassment, aggression, intimidation, and non-cooperation by politicians across the political spectrum, who it would seem are attempting to normalise the targeting of media houses and media workers in various forms.
Getting down to specifics, the release noted that over the years, the aforementioned actions have included the singling out journalists and media houses in the most “disparaging, discriminatory, and vulgar ways of aggressively responding or addressing journalists,” as well as preferential treatment and access by media houses for interviews. It also accused the government of using state-owned media and state actors to target other media houses and journalists, sidelining certain media houses by providing interviews to friendly media and social media commentators, and the outright refusal to engage with some media houses on matters of national importance. And if this was not enough, there are also threats to the distribution of advertisements across the board to the media.
According to the GPA, such actions collectively remain a worrying trend, not only because Guyana has entered another election cycle but as the country grapples with the rapid changes that come with its earning capacity, “it is clear that the civic space, freedom of the press and expression are all under threat under the pseudo-cover of the government’s right to reply.” It also noted that several of the actions listed above have already done their damage by creating self-censorship among journalists and media houses as well as civil society actors.
The release proceeded to highlight some of the concerns raised over the past few months by media houses.
1) Threats of sedition and obstruction charges – in October, through a statement from the Guyana Police Force, Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit, Assistant Commissioner Fazil Karimbaksh, threatened to institute sedition and obstruction of justice charges against journalist, Leroy Smith, for a news report as part of Smith’s reporting on the ongoing Calvin Brutus investigation.
2) Reporter shouted at by minister – In October, Stabroek News in its reporting called out Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hugh Todd, for his aggression towards reporter Khadidja Ba. While covering the special sitting of Parliament on October 10, Ba was approached by Minister Todd and shouted at for her reporting on an issue related to migrants in Linden.
3) State media personnel targeted by Opposition Members – State media workers have filed two complaints with the Guyana Press Association over the past couple of months. This included a report on May 18 that NCN Manager Reycia Nedd complained about being intimidated by APNU Councillor Vanessa Kissoon. Nedd detailed a verbal attack on herself which prompted her to leave the assignment.
Added to this, reporters attached to the Guyana Chronicle have complained to the GPA about aggression from Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton to their questions at the Party’s press conference. They stated that many of their questions are met with aggressive responses or outright refusal to answer. On May 30, the Guyana Chronicle in an editorial called out Kaieteur News for referring to a journalist as “annoying” in her questioning of the Opposition Leader.
Further, in October, National Communications Network (NCN) Linden, raised another issue of “threatening language” being used against reporter, Ianna Benjamin, by APNU councillor, Abdulla Hamid. According to NCN, the incident occurred during a Mayor & Town Council meeting and has left the reporter traumatised.
4) News reporter targeted – on World Press Freedom Day, Kaieteur News reporter, Anasha Williams, was the focus of a Facebook live video where commentator, Mikhail Rodrigues, showed several videos of her at one of Vice President Jagdeo’s press conferences while calling her derogatory names
5) Reporters insulted at President’s press conference – on June 20, at a Presidential press conference, members of the media were berated and insulted by President Irfaan Ali. Two reporters, Vahnu Manickchand of the Guyana Times, and Shervin Belgrave of Kaieteur News were insulted, one being grilled on a question she asked and Belgrave being scolded by President Ali.
6) Aggression towards journalist – President Ali on more than one occasion has singled out News Source’s Svetlana Marshall during sideline interviews. One such interview was in November 2023 as the journalist asked him about the rising cost of living. Another sideline interview was on the power ship in March 2024. Both times, Ali was aggressive towards Marshall but not with other reporters.
7) Targeting the GPA – in June 2024, as she was addressing the disrespect of media professionals by the President, the President of the GPA was also attacked for comments made in support of the media workers. In an effort to discredit Nazima Raghubir as a journalist, Vice President Jagdeo continued his attack on Raghubir on June 27, August 8, and August 15. These public comments are often followed by cyberbullying by known social media accounts and letter and column writers in the state media.
8) Advertisements – one issue also raised is the continued campaign for advertisements to be reduced or removed from a number of media houses and or for a number of state officials to disengage with some media houses. This campaign is mainly done by commentator/influencer Mikhail ‘Guyanese Critic’ Rodgrigues, who, every week, would ask Vice President Jagdeo about taking questions from Kaieteur News reporters and or reducing state ads for Kaieteur News in particular.
In addition, twice in recent times, Vice President Jagdeo has acknowledged the issue of state ads for the media, at one time saying that this should be reviewed, and on another occasion, that he would raise the issue in writing with President Ali as he branded Kaieteur News a political entity. “The GPA considers this issue a threat to the economic viability of independent media houses in Guyana.”
The release also alleged that there is a campaign to discredit the media and more so the independent media, which has been ongoing for years but has been amplified over recent months.
“Even as we call on politicians to respect the media and media workers, we expect that this will be no easy task. There is no genuine effort to be open with the media, address the concerns and simply do better. Instead, there is a trend to attack the media, journalists, the GPA via the state-controlled and social media pages. The Guyana Press Association (GPA) hopes that this changes and there is a willingness to acknowledge the work of the media as well as working with the media.”
The Association also urged media houses to encourage their reporting staff to attend and absorb all training opportunities, even as it acknowledged the need for even more robust fact-checking mechanisms within media houses and verification of information before publication. It was pointed out that there continues to be complaints about issues of verification of very basic details in reporting and to this end, the GPA expressed its commitment to continuing its training with media workers.
Finally, the GPA called on several bodies including the Guyana Elections Commission to not only consider media monitoring but also elections-related training for media workers. It suggested that as the election cycle has begun, GECOM should also consider a political code of conduct for politicians, as it does for the media.
