I RECALL my experience at the first press conference at the Office of the President close to two decades ago. Bharrat Jagdeo was the President then.
I was very young, and considered myself a budding journalist who would pursue the truth at all costs. I yearned for answers to questions I had at that time about issues relating to development, crime, politics, and current affairs.
I had only been in the game less than five years, but felt as though I understood everything and could ask anything that I thought was right, sounded good, relevant and would answer the question that I had.
President Jagdeo had kept the media waiting. He emerged from the door which gave him access to the media room, at that time, and started briefing the media on various issues.
Then he opened the floor for questions. As the media probed Jagdeo, I started to jot down a question to ask. I thought I had understood it and was prepared. Then, he would ask if anyone else had a question to ask. I boldly raised my hand, still shaking in my boots.
This was the first time I would ask the President something or anything. Everyone focused on me with razor sharp lenses as if questioning what can I ask. Sweat began to run down my body, but I still asked what I wanted to know.
By the time I was finished, President Jagdeo smirked then said, “sounds like a good text book question” and then said he would still answer it. He did just that then the press conference ended.
I recalled receiving a good lecture from my older colleagues in the media about questioning, preparation, reading the room, and generally understanding what you really wanted to ask. I remembered they lauded my boldness and confidence, but laughed at my attempt to execute the triple-part question.
In my quiet time I cried. I thought I had humiliated myself. Then, as the day progressed, my editor then told me that I must do better in my preparation. He told me that listening attentively was the key and knowing the whole issue was paramount if I intentionally wanted to get a true reaction out of my interviewee that was unexpected, raw and genuine.
He said that I must ask the probing, difficult and messy questions, even while it seemed as though I was agreeing with everything I was being told. He told me that research, facts and information would colour my stories and news reports and would cause the public to pause and think, informing their decisions. I never asked another question that would be considered “a text book question.”
Henceforth, I would ask the difficult questions and my journalistic career would take off from there. The agenda- setting theory in journalism would guide me throughout the years in the work I was doing in the public’s interest.
The preceding monologue is to say this: I am seriously concerned and confused about some of the quality of work that our young reporters, journalists and media professionals pass off as ‘news stories,’ feature stories and production pieces across the media corps here. The pride, seriousness and carefulness with which journalists and reporters operated then, is vastly different. It has diminished to a poor unacceptable standard.
No body, it would seem, is doing anything ‘much’ with training and development of talent in the media corps in Guyana. I think the GPA has the training workshops for specific areas, but it is not enough and it doesn’t attract the young cohort it would like.
Then, GPA is questionable because it seems to be floating around in the twilight zone that continues to pursue partisan political goals as opposed to national and journalistic goals; but that’s a discussion for another column.
The Guyana Media Academy (GMA) is doing a fantastic job training and upskilling youth in various areas of media. They are also finding jobs and keeping the state media and the private media updated in terms of talent and employment, but the GMA cannot do it alone.
There needs to be a holistic approach.
Firstly, reporters, journalists and media professionals must take their jobs seriously, more so, with the advent of social media, new media and artificial intelligence. They must understand the nuances of each media and how they impact the country. They must adapt their reportage and tell their stories in a manner that is easily adaptable to all. This is the way of modern societies that depend on news and information.
Journalists and reporters now have to get serious if they want to survive in their dying art form because everyone is claiming to be a reporter and a part of the media landscape.
These media professionals and journalists must go the extra mile in sanitising the information they receive before they put it out there for public consumption. They must make sure it’s accurate, true and objective.
These personnel must break the back of the fake-news machinery and the trend of lies and mistruth that easily create dangerous levels of misinformation and disinformation in societies with fragile tolerance levels and political perceptions as Guyana.
Secondly, our young reporters and journalists mean well, I think, but they are doing the public a disservice at these political parties, civil society and other organisations press conferences and press briefings which they attend in an unprepared manner. They must prepare to ask probing, investigative and difficult questions which set the agenda of the media.
Take for instance,WIN, the main opposition party, held its press conference on Friday. The media was fed a set of hogwash, half-baked and spurious tales about Region 10 and other issues related to current issues, yet no medium challenged the narrative and asked for facts. No media operative was armed with facts or follow up questions?
These politicians were basically talking heads and the media basically sat down with their mouths tightly or partially sealed. No. I’m sick to my stomach with this kind of media behaviour. We must hold them accountable, too, by asking not for their personal views but their party’s views.
They must be pressed on the parliamentary agenda and exposed for not having a single plan. It is ludicrous to me, MP Primus answered to the question asked by a reporter on the extradition proceedings and WIN contingency plan should Mohamed be extradited to the US. Here again, I think the journalist missed the follow-up questions that one would reasonably ask.
The PNC does the same thing but to a lesser extent. They blur the lines with journalists and media professionals. The job of Guyanese media is not to be liked, and, the MPs must face the scrutiny of the media and face the difficult questions whenever they are posed.
Both press conferences were big on seemingly holding the government accountable for everything under the sun, but dodging the difficult questions on issues that have to do with Mohamed, WIN itself and the PNC.
Thirdly, they must understand their jobs and the people they are serving.
The media corps in Guyana must transition soon from traditional, paper-based, or broadcast-only models to digital-first platforms to remain relevant.
Key actions such as adopting AI-driven content tools; leveraging real-time social media analytics; enhancing cybersecurity; training staff in modern digital skills (e.g., multimedia production), and fostering inter-organisational syndication must be considered if the quality of storytelling, news reporting and information is to be improved and be of the highest standards.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.