Gov’t says press freedom report deeply-flawed
Guyana has been ranked lower on the latest Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders and the APNU+AFC government has dubbed the analysis “deeply flawed.”
Guyana has been ranked 60 with a score of 26.80 on the 2017 index, which ranks 180 countries according to the level of freedom available to journalists. Guyana ranked 57 last year, with a score of 27.07. In 2015, the country had been ranked at 62.
The entry for Guyana on this year’s index states:
Although Guyana’s constitution guarantees free speech and the right to information, officials often use its defamation laws, which provide for fines and up to two years in jail, to silence opposition journalists. The members of the media regulatory authority are appointed directly by the president. This restricts the freedom of certain media outlets, which are denied licences. Journalists are subjected to harassment that takes the form of prosecutions, suspensions and intimidation.
In a statement issued yesterday, the government said it was “deeply concerned” by what it considered to be “a deeply flawed and undated report.”
It noted that Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who has portfolio responsibility for information, was unaware that Reporters Without Borders had conducted any survey or inquiry into press freedom in Guyana and questioned whether its findings were based on credible sources.
“The Government of Guyana is not aware of a single instance of any journalist being subjected to harassment or prosecution in Guyana since May 2015 when the Coalition Government assumed office. The Government of Guyana suspects that the Reporters Without Borders write up on Guyana is based on old information which pre-dates 2015. Guyana has since distanced itself from the crude subversion of the press, and its conversion into partisan political propaganda outlets under the previous government,” it said.
The statement further noted that the media in Guyana has never had greater latitude and freedom to operate without interference from government intrusion, control or direction than it presently does.
“The Government of Guyana is unaware of any intimidation of media workers and calls on Reporters Without Borders to update its country information with current and relevant information which reflects the reality in Guyana, and not allow itself to be compromised by fake news and false reports,” it added.
However, Guyana Press Association (GPA) President Neil Marks said the organisation did not have an issue with the findings.
“The Prime Minister seems to continuing down the path of ignoring the harassment of state media workers in particular or he must be very cynical because the Prime Minister is very well aware of the continuous attempts to dictate content at the Guyana Chronicle and NCN,” Marks told Stabroek News.
He alluded to the letter that was written to the Guyana Chronicle by Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan, who criticised the placement of a story related to his ministry.
He also noted that while the GPA made attempts to engage the Prime Minister, its requests for an audience are yet to be acknowledged.
In its statement, the government noted that there were two cases of unjust suspension of state media employees, but pointed out that these were robustly condemned by senior officials of the government and they were addressed to the satisfaction of the affected employees.
But Marks accused the Prime Minister of taking credit for the resolution of the dispute between news anchor Natasha Smith and NCN when he was the last person to do anything about it.
He also said the GPA continues to call for the removal of Imran Khan as Chairman of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited board, due to the fact that he is also a member of the AFC and Director of Public Information, which makes him a political appointee. This, he said, goes against everything that was contained in the government’s statement.
“We have noted that the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority recently handed over a report containing new regulations as it relates to broadcast media and while we were informed that the regulations were drafted after consultations with relevant stakeholders, the GPA was not involved in the consultation process and as such we are not aware of what these new regulations are. We would have spoken to other stakeholders who have since related that they too were not involved in the consultation process; this now makes us question who exactly the consultations included,” he said.
“The government needs to acknowledge that there are issues and address them instead of burying their heads in the sand… in the past, all the parties that make up the coalition preached high and low about political interference but this is exactly what they are doing themselves, instead of practicing what they preach,” Marks added. The opening lasts for 1 1/2 hours