Gov’t stations competing unfairly with private broadcasters

I read the barrage of misrepresentations made recently by Gail Teixeira to the UN Human Rights Committee on corruption in Guyana, specifically broadcasting which is very well known to me being a former broadcaster, and reported in KN of 22nd March 2024, captioned “UN flags PPP dominated GNBA” and “raises concerns of media control”.

Teixeira tells the people that there are more private than public stations on the air in Guyana. What she does not tell the UN committee, is that the national budget unconstitutionally, and therefore illegally, since there is now an equality clause in our constitution, provides subventions to the entire government media conglomerate, including the Chronicle, creating a virtual monopoly in broadcasting, and all the citizens are paying through their taxes to perpetrate this monstrosity.

The end result is that, yes, there are more radio and TV stations, in Guyana, owned by the private broadcasters than the government broadcasting radio and TV stations, but almost every private TV and Radio broadcaster is virtually bankrupt due to overcrowding of stations, unfair competition, and a private sector which not only has very small advertising budgets unable to support such a large amount of broadcasters, but the bigger entities also assist the government through coercion or outright threats, to punish critical private stations by depriving them of advertising, and the evidence is clear, channels not seen as supporting the PPP continue to be butchered by them, Channel 9 is up for sale, and so is Sharma’s Channel 6, Mc Kay’s Channel 7 also is uncertain that it can continue, this mutilation of the private media is caused mostly by unfair competition with a government media which uses the taxpayers’ money to expand to almost all regions and employ probably more people than all of the private media stations combined. The government stations are also very aggressive in the marketplace, using as their main advertising gimmick, that they have the widest coverage than any other station. Private media in Guyana only really consist of the Stabroek and Kaieteur newspapers, and the latter’s radio station. And I for one thank and congratulate them both, for the break we get from the Government-dominated media conglomerate distortions daily, to our people.

When I was a member of the broadcast authority, I complained more than once that we don’t have even one member of the opposition, then the PPP, on that board. When Vic Insanally and I tried to depoliticize it, we were framed and misconduct allegations made against us. What a country Editor! To sum up therefore, the government stations not only behave as if they are owned by the party in power, and not all the people of Guyana, they are also competing unfairly with the private broadcasters, both radio and TV, via very substantial subventions from the National Budget. The Government also uses its power with the private business sector with threats, if necessary, to deprive broadcasters critical of the government, to withhold advertising.

I am writing this not only as a commentator/analyst but as one who was personally subjected to most of what I am writing here, and you will recall that I have been saying this for several decades, to put this fairly and in perspective I have to point out that during 2015 to 2020 no attempt was made to rectify this inequality.