Why cry wolf now?
Peeping Tom
Kaieteur News
January 18, 2007
I do not believe it is the intention of this newspaper to get into an argument with our sister newspaper, the Stabroek News, over its present difficulties. However, the Peeper needs to respond to some nonsense that I see being peddled, nonsense which shows just how much our media culture has evolved from the time when the unquestionable masters of the Fourth Estate were drawn from the elite class.
The media is now different and State ads or no State ads, those who do not recognise this fact will be relegated to insignificance. The days when social status and class dictated who were the opinion shapers have long gone. But the greatest sadness is reflected in those who still live in the past.
After close to 20 years of dominating the private print media in Guyana, it must be difficult for the Stabroek News to appreciate that it is no longer the top newspaper in Guyana. The era in which that newspaper flourished was the era when there was no competition within the private print media.
Without competition, the Stabroek News firmly established itself as the country's top newspaper. For years after competition came, Stabroek News capitalised on that reputation. Even when Kaieteur News came along, the Stabroek News paid no heed, relying on the reputation and solid foundation it had established over the years.
However, seasons changed and the Kaieteur News became a household name. Our staff was hungry for success. The publisher knew that the newspaper had to prove itself and for ten years it set about doing so. We begged no favours and demanded none.
For ten long years, not a word of support was issued when we did not receive a single State advertisement. No one said that Kaieteur News was being punished or discouraged through the non-receipt of State advertisements. Quietly, we joked that it was Uncle Adam that caused us not to get any advertisements.
Where were the voices of press freedom then? Where were the GHRA and the Guyana Press Association and Journalists without Borders? Why is the Stabroek News bawling like a baby now? Why was it not crying when it was receiving State ads while this newspaper was receiving none?
Even when we became undisputedly the newspaper with the highest circulation, we did not receive State advertisements; not one. But we did not run around crying wolf because Kaieteur News knew that as long as it had the confidence of the citizens of this country, it could not be ignored forever.
We were also simply not going to beg or compromise our standards--not that we were ever asked to do so--simply to get State advertisements. Those who know the publisher of this newspaper know that he is a strong-willed individual prepared to fight for what he believes, and he knew that the readers would make Kaieteur News the number one newspaper in the country.
Kaieteur News, however, believes that this newspaper is not about who is on top and who is running second. This newspaper is not concerned about old class affiliations and resurrecting the ghost of the golden days when persons of certain standing were considered God's gift to Guyana.
We do not have as our editorial policy ensuring the success of an open economy and an open society. We want better for our country but we feel that if we do our job and do it professionally, then the type of society that is free and open will emerge.
The reason why Kaieteur News has been successful is because day in day out we have got the news to our readers and they respect us for doing so. We nail the scoops; we get the stories that others do not get and this is what makes us popular. We are not about any freedom project; we are about serving our readership.
I will tell you just how much people love this newspaper. One man told me he would rather go without breakfast than do without the Kaieteur News.
For those who feel that because they have introduced a business supplement this makes them a better newspaper, they are entitled to those views. But it just goes to show how little they know about why the vast majority of citizens buy newspapers in Guyana.
Kaieteur News's circulation is way ahead of the pack, way ahead. It does not require a detailed study to ascertain the newspaper with the highest circulation in Guyana. Just go to the newspaper vendors and ask them which newspaper sells the most.
Some people are however stubborn and bent in their ways. For years Uncle Freddie has been asking about the usefulness of a certain column run by one of our competitors and yet we are told that this is one of the most popular columns. This lack of understanding of the realities of public appeal is one of the reasons for the slide of the Stabroek News.
I cannot also understand, given their claim about their features, why it is that they should feel so hurt by the reduction of State advertisements over a short period of time. Surely if their newspaper was so popular, you would expect that there would have been such an overwhelming demand for it that even the government would not have been able to ignore its popularity.
I will never accept that bull that the GHRA is stating that the government has to ensure that advertising revenue is available to a range of stakeholders. If they surely believed that then perhaps they could explain why they never protested when this newspaper for ten years did not receive State ads.
The criteria for the placing of State ads have to be the market objectives of the government and commercial considerations. Not because Stabroek News happens to be around means that it is entitled to what it deems an appropriate share of State ads.
It is not as if Stabroek News is not receiving State ads. In yesterday's newspaper they again received ads from government agencies, some of which were not received by this newspaper.
In fact, quite ironically, just below their article about the denial of State ads was an advertisement from the Central Housing and Planning Authority. They also ran ads yesterday from the University of Guyana, the Geology and Mines Commission and the Guyana Power and Light Company.