Ads placement was policy decision
-- GINA
Guyana Chronicle
January 18, 2007
THE withdrawal of advertisements from the privately-owned Stabroek News by the Government Information Agency (GINA) was a policy decision of the agency and was in no way influenced by the directive of any senior government official, GINA stated last evening.
It was responding to a Stabroek News report which named Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President Dr. Nanda Gopaul as issuing the directive.
GINA reiterated that the placement of advertisements in the media is linked to the public’s response to such advertisements, and as such, the government reserves the right to seek maximum returns on its advertising dollar.
Additionally, GINA called on the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) to substantiate claims that the agency is ‘being used as an instrument to sustain confrontational politics by persistent intemperate attacks on the political opposition and other perceived enemies of the state.”
GINA said the GHRA, as a responsible human rights organization, should refrain from issuing inflammatory statements which could potentially result in what the GHRA itself has described as “confrontational politics”.
The agency said the government has consistently respected and supported the freedom of the press, exhibiting a high degree of tolerance for openly vulgar anti-government talk shows, newscasts, and newspapers.
&The claim by the GHRA that government’s decision to review the placement of advertisements in the Stabroek News Paper ‘as a weapon against the news media’ is unfounded, and smacks of a deliberate attempt to politicise the issue,” GINA stated.
The agency said the government will continue to monitor and review the placement of its advertisements to all media houses to ensure that appropriate responses are achieved and that the economics of the situation is feasible.