The Trinidad Express is advising President Bharrat Jagdeo not to tilt his administration in any direction that is going to attract comparisons with the Forbes Burnham regime during the mid-sixties and mid-eighties.
In yesterday's editorial headlined 'Watch it, President Jagdeo', the Express said the Guyana government "appears to have a case to answer concerning its decision to pull significant chunks of state advertising from the Stabroek News…"
Meanwhile, at least two state-owned corporations withdrew their ads from the Stabroek News last week. (See story on page1)
The Express said that in response to mounting pressure from inside and outside Guyana, GINA "has advanced an argument based on impact and reach" stating among other things that the Stabroek News was no longer the largest circulation privately-owned newspaper in the country arguing that the placement of ads has more to do with "economics and impact maximisation" and that the contraction of the budget for the Stabroek News, has nothing to do with "press freedom", as was being asserted by the Stabroek News and a growing chorus of observers.
The Express said the Stabroek News has maintained "a fierce independence which has been its hallmark, in a country racked by punitive censorship, among other aspects of a repressive former administration" and it has been coming under increasing criticism by the current administration.
"The government, led by President Bharrat Jagdeo, is advised to tread carefully along this road of seeking to punish those, individuals, groups and organisations, whose views may differ from its own. It is the surest way to steer this country back to the days of gloom and doom reminiscent of the Burnhamite era between the mid-1960's and the mid-1980's," the Express said.
The newspaper described the country "as a resource-rich society whose capital was once enviably known as the Garden City of the Caribbean," but has suffered "untold losses in human, material and technological terms as a result of failed experiments in social engineering."
This included several clamp-downs on human rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech and expression which left the society struggling to emerge from the cumulative effect of those calamities, a decade and a half after the end of domination by the PNC.
The return to power of Dr Cheddi Jagan's People's Progressive Party, along with its coalition partner the Civic group in 1992, the Express said, benefited enormously from the desperate search by its citizens for a new governance paradigm. This included a return to cherished freedoms and forms of democracy, which had all but been suspended, such as freedom of the press. The repressive tactics under PNC rule against the Catholic Standard, under the heroic leadership of its editor, the late Fr Andrew Morrison, remain legendary.
"President Jagdeo, by his government's actions, will do well not to tilt his administration in any direction that is going to attract such comparisons. A word to the wise, at this stage, ought to be sufficient," the editorial said.
Editor-at-large of the Trinidad Express Keith Smith over a week ago had already condemned the move and urged government's reversal of its decision.
The Trinidad Express has joined the Barbados Nation and the Jamaica Gleaner in condemning GINA's withdrawal of ministry ads from the Stabroek News.
The Barbados Nation editorial in its Sunday edition strongly deplored the withdrawal of the ads describing it as a "sad state of affairs" and joined its sister Jamaican newspaper, the Gleaner in urging the Guyana government to reconsider its position adding that the newspaper was "confident that our region's newspapers and publishers will join in strong support of the Stabroek News."
Among the organisations which have condemned and called for a reversal of the withdrawal of the ads are the Guyana Press Association, the Guyana Human Rights Association, Guyana Trades Union Congress, the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM), PNCR-1G and the Alliance for Change.
The weekly Catholic Standard has also condemned the withdrawal and called for a reversal in its editorial.
Veteran Guyanese and Caribbean journalist Rickey Singh has criticised the move in his columns published in the Jamaica Observer, Trinidad Express, Barbados Nation and the Guyana Chronicle.
The ACM wrote to President Jagdeo on January 24 seeking a meeting on finding a way to resolve the issue. To press time there has been no response.
International organisations also adding their voices were the Inter American Press Association, the International Press Institute and Reporters Without Borders.
Stabroek News's editors have maintained that the government is penalising the newspaper for its crucial editorial stance on issues pertinent to the government. Editor-in-Chief, David de Caires said the withdrawal of the ads was politically motivated to punish the Stabroek News for its editorial views and Editor Anand Persaud said there was a clear link between the decision and the series of virulent attacks by President Jagdeo on the newspaper during last year's election campaign. (Miranda La Rose)