Only days ago I had cause and occasion to express concerns about the abuse of press freedom in Guyana. In that article, I observed that “[a] free press is one of the main foundations of a democratic society. Those who don’t have it, long for it. Many have died for it. Yet, some who make a living through the institution of press freedom here in Guyana, have chosen to abuse it with a vengeance” (Demerara Waves Online News, 10/30/2024).
I reiterate that position now, only this time with a shift in focus. Whereas the last critique of abuse of press freedom was concerned with the nihilistic and inflammatory outbursts of GHK Lall, this time the concern is with KN’s editorial of 11/2/2024. While the former was about the wayward indiscretions of an individual, this time the stakes are higher because we are dealing with an institutional matter.
The editorial page of a newspaper is at once indicative of, and constitutive of the broad intellectual and political framework through which journalists derive their own guidance. Put differently, the editorial page sets the general norms and expectations of what is to be said, how issues should be approached, and what political aims and objectives should be privileged or marginalized.
The most cursory reading of Kaieteur News editorials evinces the open support the paper has for any and all who are against the People’s Progressive Party and the current PPPC administration. In contradistinction to informed, data-driven engagement with government policies, these editorials are more in the form of bombastic gyrations intended to create or deepen division in the country, to rally opposition supporters, and yes, to empower anti-PPP fringe elements both in Guyana and abroad.
GHK Lall, for instance, is allowed to carry on with daily rants against the current administration. He is a specialist in personal attacks against President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo. That character is supported by an assortment of letter writers, including one of the most discredited politicians in the history of Guyana who signs his name – “Elder.”
Good editorials are by definition fair and balanced. On this score, Kaieteur News is an abysmal failure. But like most bullies, rather than own up to its conspicuous biases, its political commitments, its penchant for being pre-analytically disposed to taking sides with the APNU-AFC, it pretends to be “the Man”, that stoic and incorruptible clerk in Awi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born.
At times I wonder if the publisher, and his conduit GHK Lall, actually imagine themselves to be the Guyanese version of the Ghanaian propellant for change. You will see lines like “[t]he free and independent media in Guyana should never be seen as an adversary in the fight for what is fair for Guyana for its oil patrimony” (KN, 11/2/2024). What you will not see, is that this same newspaper supports the AFC’s Nigel Hughes, who is clearly in a conflict of interest situation that should be sufficient to remove him from electoral politics. Mr. Hughes’ law firm has provided advice to ExxonMobil. How can this same person who represents the interest of a foreign company, also represent the national interest of Guyana without any contradiction? Kaieteur News may be fooled, but not the people of Guyana.
KN’s latest tactic is similar to APNU′s. APNU likes to convert off-grid political issues into major grievances. The latest iteration in the case of Kaieteur News is that Jagdeo made some comments on state ads. What KN should say, is that despite its vengeful attacks on the PPP government, they continue to rake in countless millions from the Government of Guyana every year through state ads. This proves that Guyana’s press freedom is alive and well. It is, so much so, that those who receive millions upon millions still retain the right, and are indeed allowed to cuss down the government in the vilest ways possible without any consequence.
It is not at all a stretch to say that editorial abuse of press freedom is at its peak in Guyana.