GTV to investigate criticism by media monitoring unit By Patrick Denny Stabroek News January 24, 2001 The media houses have responded to the first report of the Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) which showed some instances of unbalanced reporting in matters related to the elections. The report had raised questions over the coverage given to the government by GTV?s Six O?Clock News noting that the opposition parties were barely represented. Martin Goolsarran, General Manager of GTV, besides questioning the accuracy of the measurements on opposition coverage which showed the PNC getting 2% of air time most of which was negative, stated that the station had a duty to cover the activities of the government and asked whether it would be proper to ignore these. He said the broadcast did not shirk from negative coverage of the government. In reference to the two instances highlighted in the report, Goolsarran said these would be raised with the editor after review of the tapes. The report says that on the broadcast of December 6, the news anchor Natasha Waldron had introduced a story about the upcoming meeting between President Jagdeo and Hoyte by saying ? And the political temperature in advance of tomorrow?s meeting was raised today . President Jagdeo wisely chose to spend his day doing his work as head of state and keeping a diplomatic silence, but the leader of the opposition engaged in a bit of megaphone diplomacy. The MMU had concluded that ?the use of opinion and bias in the introduction of a news story is inappropriate, when purporting to present accurate, balanced and fair news. The other instance was a January 12 broadcast where Natasha Waldron stated in her own words ?As President of this nation he has always allowed the nation?s needs to guide him in his leadership role.? Goolsarran commented that this could have been a case of poor construction. Nevertheless GTV will be discussing the findings of the report and Goolsarran said if there was some merit in the comments appropriate changes would be made. The MMU had criticised the Stabroek News for editing a political advertisement submitted by ROAR which it said could lead to a restriction on a party from freely expressing itself. Editor-in-Chief David de Caires said the decision to remove photographs was because they did not relate to the January 12 incident when Indians were beaten in Georgetown which the ad dealt with. The photographs related to separate incidents at different times when Indians had been attacked in a robbery or involved in a road accident and this was considered to be manipulative and unfair advertising. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today