Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Sep 16, 2009 Letters
Dear Editor,
I am responding to letters in your paper from Anand Daljeet and Freddie Kissoon, who advocate a list of protocols to be followed before newspapers publish the findings of polls.
The AFC pollster, Dick Morris, as SN editorialized (September 9), did not adhere to those protocols but Kaieteur News still published his findings and SN published partial findings. Kissoon and Daljeet did not query that poll because it was favourable to the AFC. Since Bisram’s poll was favourable to the PPP, it was seen by Daljeet and Kissoon as a bad poll.
I don’t think the media should set protocols for poll done by professionals who have established a credible reputation in conducting polls. I do think, however, an unknown pollster or someone starting out should be queried about how his poll was conducted.
We have to treat established pollsters as professionals and don’t demean them as Kissoon and Dajeet suggest.
Both Bisram and Morris are professionals and started conducting polls around the same time – Morris for Bill Clinton when he was Arkansas Governor in the late 1980s and Bisram who said he started polling in the late 1980s. I believe SN should have published the complete findings of Dick Morris polls and let the people decide about their credibility.
As we know, Morris predicted an AFC victory, but the party won less than 10% of the votes.
We should not let Daljeet and Kissoon decide what criteria should be used for publishing polls. They don’t speak for the population and we are intelligent enough to decide what a ‘good’ poll is. We don’t need Kissoon and Daljeet to think for us. Incidentally, I should note that Daljeet and Kissoon did not and have not called for protocols to be followed for publishing polls to be commissioned by the AFC.
Daljeet says he teaches in Canada and Freddie does not forget to remind us he teaches at UG. Can Daljeet and Freddie, since they purport to be learned men, tell us which media in Canada or anywhere in the world has established protocols before publishing polls?
Dozens of pollsters released findings of polls that are published in the Toronto Globe & Mail, Star, Sun, Macleans, etc. None of these newspapers followed the kind of protocols suggested by Daljeet and Kissoon and I don’t see academics Daljeet and Kissoon condemning the polls or critiquing the Canadian media which do not follow their suggestions.
Not because these two gentlemen have conflict with Bisram or because Bisram has demonstrated more polling knowledge than them means his polls should not be published. Also, we should not adopt the attitude that polls done by pollsters from the North or developed countries are good or better while polls done by pollsters from the South or Guyanese are inferior.
Ultimately, readers will judge the credibility of the polls. The Morris polls were found to be incredible and were ridiculed when he predicted a victory for AFC. And Kissoon’s praises for the Morris’s polls were laughable.
Even Kissoon’s speculations on the outcome of the elections that the AFC would win were a joke. Bisram’s NACTA polls were found to be credible because his prediction almost mirrored the outcome of the 2006 elections as well as the 2001, 1997 and 1992 elections.
Cynthia London
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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