Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 08, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Any threat against the media, no matter how harmless it may seem when issued, should be taken seriously. When it comes to media freedom there is nothing like an idle threat; all threats should be taken seriously.
If anyone doubted this proposition, he was reminded yesterday of the need to not underrate any threat against press freedom. Yesterday, gunmen riddled the offices of a satirical magazine in Paris, killing twelve persons, including two police officers.
That attack brought back reminders of a recent threat issued against this newspaper. A journalist working with the Kaieteur News was warned in a telephone conversation that he should extricate himself from this newspaper’s office because one day the place was going to be riddled with gunfire.
The mistake that we make in this country- and which we continue to make- is to always take threats lightly – in whatever form they are issued, against the media.
The mistake we make is that by failing to rally behind the media, civil society and the people of Guyana embolden those who are determined to silence the voice of the media.
When the PPPC came to power in 1992, the party went after Adam Harris who was then the Editor of the Guyana Chronicle. Adam knew the architect behind the campaign to oust him from his job.
He understood, however, that the new government would have been uncomfortable with him remaining as Editor and he duly did the honourable thing and gave the new government the space that it wanted. He knew that he had to go and he went. What he did not anticipate was the recrimination that would follow by the denial of his benefits.
The people of Guyana, the political parties and civil society should have stood behind Adam Harris. Regardless of what they thought of him or the Guyana Chronicle under his editorship, the victimization that he faced constituted an assault on press freedom and should have been resisted. Because it was not, other persons have been targeted since there was no longer a fear of public ostracism.
This newspaper is now under attack. It has been threatened. A conspiracy to silence this newspaper by framing the publisher of this newspaper and jailing him for a long time was unearthed recently but not before the plot had been put into action.
The architects behind that plot are well-known. By attacking the Kaieteur News they have endangered the lives of every one of the members of staff of this newspaper and that is highly unacceptable in any free society.
Kaieteur News and its publisher have been singled out for special treatment. As dangerous as this is, it is equally a reflection that this newspaper is doing something right. That right is that the newspaper has exposed those who are using the machinery of the State to enrich themselves, their cronies and their friends.
The State has now become a vehicle for the enrichment of a group of individuals who have become stinking rich under the PPP and who wish to continue to do so.
By exposing the evil and perfidious actions of this cabal, this newspaper and its publisher have driven fear into the hearts of those who are plundering this country.
They feel that their interests are threatened and therefore they are all out to silence this newspaper so that they can continue to rape this country and make turn development into a Ponzi scheme.
The Guyanese people must understand that there are forces in the country that have a great deal to lose by the exposure of the runaway corruption that is being exposed by this newspaper almost on a daily basis.
The forces aligned against the Kaieteur News are powerful and they are deadly. Make no mistake about it, they will stop at nothing to destroy this newspaper.
But as we saw in yesterday’s attack in Paris, it is not just the media house that is targeted that comes under attack. It is the very notion of press freedom. As a result of that attack in Paris, the very art of satire has been targeted and this will have reverberations across Europe.
This is why we must never be fooled into believing that the campaign against the publisher of this newspaper is just about him. It is never that simple.
It is also about you and me. And more precisely about our right to know the truth about what is happening in our country.
Those behind the attacks on Glenn Lall; those who are out to expose him to possible harm must not succeed. If they do we are all doomed. Today it is Glenn Lall; tomorrow it will be you!
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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