THE four-member media delegation from the Caribbean looking in on the controversial ads dispute between the Guyana Government, and the privately-owned Stabroek News, is again appealing to both parties to work towards reconciliation by refraining from the use of extreme or confrontational measures.
The media delegation is also calling on President Bharrat Jagdeo, whom they met in February on the same issue, to renew the flow of government and state corporation advertising to Stabroek News.
The delegation comprised Mr. Harold Hoyte of Barbados - representing One Caribbean Media Limited; Mr. Dale Enoch of Trinidad and Tobago - President of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers; Mr. Newton James of Jamaica - representing the Jamaica Gleaner; and Mr. Rickey Singh, the noted Guyana-born Caribbean journalist based in Barbados.
In a statement yesterday on the dispute, the four journalists expressed disappointment at their “failure to resolve” the dispute between the Stabroek News and the Guyana Government.
The delegation recalled formally meeting President Jagdeo, at their request, to discuss the ads issue.
“The meeting took place in St Vincent during the February 12-14 Inter-Sessional Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government with the specific intention of promoting an amicable resolution to the dispute, one that had serious implications for the commercial viability of Stabroek News,” the delegation stated.
They said President Jagdeo stoutly denied at the meeting that his government’s decision to withdraw the advertisements and place them with the other privately-owned Kaieteur News was designed to silence criticism by the Stabroek News. Nor, he argued, was it a fundamental issue of press freedom, as claimed by the Stabroek News.
He contended that it was strictly an “economic decision” based on circulation and the government’s desire was to have maximum advantage for its expenditure on media advertising.
The media delegation, however, said it pointed out that while the Stabroek News may indeed have suffered reductions in circulation, in the absence of any empirical evidence, based, for instance, on an Audit Bureau of Circulation examination of the circulation of newspapers in Guyana, it was difficult to objectively accept the official explanation that the withdrawal of government advertisements was simply one of “economic” judgment.
In an effort to strike a practical resolution, and conscious of the President’s strongly expressed views on what his administration considers unfair and hostile journalism from the Stabroek News, the media delegation said it offered an initiative to help end a controversy that had the potential of hurting the reputation of Guyana by the perception abroad of a threat to press freedom at home.
First, an initiative to get the Stabroek News to end its daily publication on it front page of a statement: “This government is misusing taxpayers’ funds in an effort to suppress this newspaper” which the government regarded as adding fuel to the controversy.
Secondly, the delegation said it offered its help, if needed, in the creation of a model for advertising distribution that would be fair and equitable insofar as the Government sought to maximise its expenditure.
Following the meeting with President Jagdeo, the media delegation issued a press statement on February 12, noting that “the talks were frank and cordial, and that a window of opportunity for resolving the matter may have been opened.”
“Since then, we have been maintaining communication with the President, through Mr. Hoyte, to end the impasse with the Stabroek News by the restoration of government advertising,” the delegation said.
They said the President has at all times been courteous in his responses and that “the hopes for a resolution were raised when he signalled that there could be a positive outcome within two months as he was then deeply involved in pressing matters relating to the hosting of Cricket World Cup games in Guyana”.
The delegation said in a subsequent letter they sent to the President, he was asked to reduce the waiting period to a month. “That time has now passed, and no positive response has come…,” they lamented.
“Therefore, for all the courtesies expressed by President Jagdeo, we now regrettably declare disappointment in our failure to resolve the dispute between the Stabroek News and the Guyana Government,” the four-man delegation said.
According to them, the “current unfair and undesirable situation of a total withdrawal of advertisements to the Stabroek News could objectively be viewed by independent observers as having the effect of subverting the commercial viability of the newspaper, and by extension, resulting in a press freedom problem.”
“We do not consider it the obligation of the Guyana Government, or any government for that matter, to subsidise any newspaper with advertisements that must be paid for from the national treasury,” they said.
“At the same time, in the Guyana situation, one peculiar to the rest of the Caribbean community, where advertisements from government ministries and state corporations can be vital for a media enterprise such as Stabroek News, the implications of reduction, and now total withdrawal of such advertising for its survival can hardly escape informed, independent assessment,” they contended.
“Even now, therefore, having been disappointed by the government’s failure to take up our offer to help in the creation of a system of advertising distribution that could resolve the problem we look forward to an urgent announcement by President Jagdeo on the renewal of government and state corporation advertising to Stabroek News.”
“We take this opportunity to thank the Stabroek News for its co-operation during the past two months, and the President of Guyana for his frankness as well as the consistency of the courtesies he extended to us,” the delegation said.
“We urge both sides to work towards reconciliation by refraining from the use of extreme or confrontational measures, since the economic security and general welfare of an entire population could well be disrupted,” they urged.
Withdrawal of government advertisements from the Stabroek News based on its declining circulation has been used as a yardstick by some to measure the country’s press freedom.
Sections of the media have labelled it as a direct attack on this freedom, but according to President Jagdeo such claims are disturbing and unbelievable.
“I am very disturbed, only warped minds could make this an issue of freedom of the press,” he said during a news conference he hosted earlier this year.
“Now listen to the perverseness - if we advertise with Stabroek News then we are respecting freedom of expression and so it means if we take back some of the ads Kaieteur News is getting and we give it to Stabroek News it means that there is freedom of expression in this country.”
“That is the logic of it, can you understand it, that you have to advertise with a particular entity to ensure freedom of expression!”, he said.