de Caires calls for end to TV anarchy
Editor-in-Chief of the Stabroek News, David de Caires, has called on the government to regularise the anarchic situation in the television industry. de Caires was speaking at the opening of the Third Annual Caribbean Media Conference at Le Meridien Pegasus yesterday. His calls were heard by President Bharrat Jagdeo, who was asked to open the conference. Mr Jagdeo described the media environment as "far from perfect" despite or maybe because of his government's commitment to press freedom. And he noted with dismay that "for television, in particular the blanket of freedom was not matched by the mantle of responsibility" with some sectors highlighting racial and religious differences. Mr Jagdeo revealed that he intended to hold a retreat for media practitioners to discuss the industry. de Caires, Chairman of the conference organising committee, pointed out that while the government's record on press freedom had been good, the unjustified maintenance of a state radio monopoly could not be countenanced. He called for full discussions on copyright law and urged government to push forward with a Freedom of Information Act. He said the greatest challenge for media houses in the region was to raise the level of conversation in society and that "to do anything less would be to default on our editorial duty." Mr Jagdeo for his part called on the regional media to help improve the image of Guyana. He cited a number of statistics that showed Guyana's development in the last decade and contrasted this with the words of some Trinidadian students he had recently met who thought Guyana to be backward. de Caires described the annual conference as an explicit recognition that there was a free media in the region after the destruction of standards in earlier decades. This he attributed in part to the regional association of media houses and in the case of Guyana to former president Desmond Hoyte's decision to open up the industry at the end of the eighties. "The battle for free speech and an open society is eternal," de Caires declared. "We must grapple unblinkingly with our country's plight, share its pain, provide relevant information and in our editorial columns try to shed some light and fearlessly open new perspectives for our decision makers."
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