I was highly amused at the devious way in which Stabroek News finally admitted its erroneous report that George Bacchus had taken a lie detector test at the US Embassy and had passed it.
Under the headline on the first page of the Sunday Stabroek, reported on page two, "US Embassy taking allegation seriously", Stabroek News merely reports that the information given by Bacchus was being evaluated. Embedded in the story is the information that there was no lie detector test to Bacchus.
There was no apology to readers, no admission of wrong reporting, only a weak excuse that its story was based "on sources which in the past have been well informed and reliable."
That is arrogance at its pinnacle and very bad journalism and editorship.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Singh
Editor's note:
As indicated, we got the report from a usually reliable source and withdrew it as soon as the US Ambassador indicated it was not true.
We had previously checked with a senior officer at the embassy who told us no statement had been issued denying that a lie detector test had been administered, that is why a correction was not printed earlier.