THE Alliance For Change (AFC) yesterday charged that the government’s withdrawal of advertising from the Stabroek News was “a frontal and indecent attack on the freedom of speech and choice in Guyana” and said the decision should be reversed.
“We condemn this petty, partisan and pointless behaviour and say that the people of Guyana expect better,” the AFC stated in a press release.
The political party said it has long been established that the presence in society of independent analytical voices primarily expressed through the media is one of the cardinal signposts signalling the presence of a democracy.
The AFC said “it matters not whether the Stabroek News is a friend or foe of the government as it is not meant to function in that manner.”
“One gets the distinct impression that this latest attack on press freedom is a reprisal for justified criticism Stabroek News has levelled at the government in recent times,” the party contended.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) said the decision to withdraw ‘Ministry Ads’ from the Stabroek News was based on the newspaper’s “poor circulation and limited reach”.