Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 07, 2008 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
When the Peeper heard that Glenn was seen doing some measurements on the roof of Kaieteur News, I got really excited.
You see, I had always had a dream that one day we would have a roof garden here at Kaieteur News where the staff could in between working hours go upstairs and sip a cup of coffee …and whatever stronger stuff may be available.
The Peeper decided to find out just why Glenn was taking measurements of the roof. I decided to ask him. I was disappointed to learn that it had nothing to do with the construction of a roof garden here at Kaieteur News.
Apparently, somebody brought in a printing press from India and somehow Glenn got to see the price paid for the printing press. It was reported that when he saw the price he almost dropped dead. It was cheap, dog cheap.
And to make matters worse it had a number of pallets or units which means that at the price paid, the purchasers got a deal of a lifetime. And to think that the cost of freight from India is so much and yet you can get the presses so cheap. What a bargain!
Glenn decided that if India is making printing presses so cheap, he wants three more for himself. He has decided that he wants one on the ground floor, one on the middle floor and one on the roof.
We even heard him discussing with the bakery over the road as to whether they would want to have one too. Who knows if you buy four, you might get one free!
That free one he could give to the Guyana Chronicle since the one they have has been around since Noah built the ark. However, the Peeper had to discourage that suggestion because from the way things are going I do not believe that the Guyana Chronicle is going for too long.
What the PNCR failed to do, the PPP will complete. The PNCR had after the 1997 elections called for a boycott of the Guyana Chronicle. The party was then under the leadership of Desmond Hoyte. After a campaign against the State-owned newspaper, the paper went into remission and has never recovered.
The PNCR never however could deliver the knockout punch against the Guyana Chronicle which despite its dwindled circulation still manages to stay on its feet.
That is not however likely to last very much longer. Already the newspaper has lost a number of its staff and the hemorrhaging continues also in other areas of the State media.
With a new pro-government newspaper on the circuit, staffed predominantly by former State-media operatives and receiving what seems like the tacit support of the government, the fate of the Chronicle does not look good.
In fact, if things continue as they do, it is only a matter of time before the Guyana Chronicle will finally close its doors.
This would be a sad day in our history. While under both the PNC and the PPP it has been reduced to a propaganda rag, the value of its brand cannot be understated.
The Chronicle is a historic brand in Guyana. When you hear the name the Guyana Chronicle, it takes you down memory lane for this has been a newspaper that has been around for as long as anyone can remember.
Most of us grew up in the days of the Argosy, Evening Post, Graphic, the Citizen and the Guyana Chronicle. The Guyana Chronicle has seen all of these famous newspapers come and go. It has survived through thick and thin.
It even survived the onslaught of criticisms leveled by the PNCR after the 1997 elections. It is thus bitterly ironic that it should be under the PPP that the Guyana Chronicle should depart the media scene.
I believe in my heart that a tactical decision has been taken somewhere that the Guyana Chronicle could no longer be resuscitated.
Even though the Chronicle has a recognizable brand and an acquired reputation, it had allowed itself to be too marooned by the politics of the government and therefore lost a great deal of credibility and respectability.
The question must have been asked as to whether to try to refloat a sinking ship.
With the State media losing staff at a rapid rate to migration and to the private media, with the retirement of some of the older heads at that newspaper, the government does not seem to have a rescue plan for the Guyana Chronicle.
Now the competition from a pro-government newspaper will be the final nail in its coffin.
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