Government demands apology from CANA for `wicked' report
THE Guyana Government is demanding an apology from the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) for a story it published Monday. Information Minister, Mr Moses Nagamootoo, in a letter yesterday to Mr Trevor Yearwood, Editor of the CANA Wire Service, strongly denounced the story. "I believe that the CANA publication is defamatory of the entire government of Guyana and has tarnished the image of all ministers, individually and severally," he said. He added, "In the circumstances I am demanding of CANA a full retraction of the impugned story, and an unqualified apology to the Government of Guyana." The CANA story from Georgetown was circulated under the headline `Strong allegation in Guyana'. Nagamootoo pointed out that the "news item did not say by what method 'a man facing robbery charges' in Guyana made the allegation 'that two government ministers, a public servant, two cops, and a television station owner were accomplices' who helped the deceased bandit-killer, Linden London to 'mastermind heists' which according to your story netted more than $100M." The minister stated that if the allegation of criminal conduct was that "strong", CANA should have ensured that its source was not only impeccable, but that the accused be given a chance to respond. He added that the heading of the story volunteered an editorial comment emphasising the seriousness of the allegation against government ministers in a member state of the Caribbean Community. "Was there any reason for the reckless rush to press without any attempt to create a balance? Surely, CANA practises the fairness rule!", Nagamootoo charged. The Information Minister said he was aware that certain anti-government propagandists who were identified as being in contact with the late criminal have claimed that a tape recording purportedly emanating from a jailed gang member has named state officials as accomplices. However, no one owned up to the `voice' on the tape recording, he said. It came as a shock to the government that CANA allowed itself to become ensnared in a political smear campaign by repeating allegations from a questionable source, he said. The CANA report sourced the story to Andrew Douglas, a suspected member of the London gang who is on related charges. The Guyana Government Tuesday described the report as "baseless, wicked and malicious." It added that CANA acted irresponsibly by "parroting these blatant lies which have been peddled by propagandists linked to the opposition People's National Congress (PNC)." It condemned CANA for "publishing outrageous anti-government propaganda without any recourse whatsoever to verification or comment from the government."
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