Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 14, 2010 Letters
Dear Editor,
Freedom of the press is an integral part of our democracy that is now protected by the democratic culture that has evolved over the last 20 years.
The insistence that all must accept a particular point of view as presented in the media, as happened under the dictatorship, is no longer a part of our media ethos. I applaud Kaieteur News for promoting the spirit of the free press in Guyana even publishing views of critics of KN resulting in your paper rising to great heights since it was launched.
I salute all reporters in Guyana. Being a journalist is no easy job as I learn from experience. While I am not an expert in the field of journalism, I have a lot of experience reporting for various publications in the US and in Guyana and Trinidad for 32 years. I started to write in the public domain around the same time as Dr. Baytoram Ramharack around 1978 when we were students at City College, where Ramharack took several courses on investigative reporting, becoming one of the finest writers in the process.
We were both encouraged to become writers by Vassan Ramracha, a political mentor and guru to many CCNY students, so as to serve the media needs of the Guyanese and West Indian readership craving for news about their growing NY community and their former homelands.
This led to the launching of several of our own publications which helped in my understanding of the role of the media. Incidentally Ramharack and I both wrote for CCNY Newspapers – The Campus and The Paper in various capacities with Ramharack doing features and I doing reviews of Broadway plays and movies, before moving on to news reporting for the community.
As I learn in my studies of political science and in my years of experience as a student government official, the media is the unofficial fourth branch of government with an irreplaceable role in the American political system of checks and balances. As our editor, African American Robin Guilford, and African American Faculty Advisor, Prof. Ernest Boynton (a distinguished mind), advised, the press’s job is to be fair and objective and not take sides on an issue. This is an advice my friend, Freddie Kissoon, should take note of. The media’s job is to work and act on behalf of the public – to ferret out the truth, to impart accurate information, to present all legitimate sides of an issue, and to offer informed commentary so that the public will be educated about the issue under the pen.
Even in times of euphoria and when someone has been “done in” by investigation, the press owes a duty to be fair and objective.
While I am not supportive of certain angles of stories in Kaieteur News, I think the editors allow varied views to be aired in your opinion pages.
There are some splendid reports on government doings but not all are accurate. While Kaieteur News has a proud tradition of highlighting the wrong doings in society and corruption, such vigilance must be based on veracity, not hearsay or an agenda. I must note that your editorials are well written and are notable not only for their language but also for their ability to present other sides of an issue. I think Adam Harris is a fine editor with long journalistic experience. He gives the impression that he respects accuracy and language that show objectivity. I am sure reporters do turn to him when in difficulty. Also, although Kaieteur News has given the appearance that it is a severe critic of the government, the paper has provided government defenders access to respond to contents in the paper.
An area Kaieteur News is in need of improvement is in the commentaries of columnist Freddie Kissoon whose writings need serious editing. He writes in the attacking mode which Prof. Boynton would advise does not belong in the media but in a propaganda rag sheet. His type of writing is called pamphleteering. I should note his claim that Guyana is a dictatorship and at the same time enjoying the freedom to pen those words is in itself a contradiction – it shows the country is a democracy. Kissoon’s attack on those who he perceives as nemeses is followed by his hubris behaviour (“wrong and strong” as we say in the Guyanese parlance). At times, Kissoon’s views are rickety and incomprehensible and his writings replete with distortions of facts and fabrications of untruths. He fosters chauvinism against those he opposes and behaves self-righteous. He needs to get off his high horse and come down to earth and start treating people with respect. His activist writings need to be tempered by the editors.
Let me applaud all the “professional” journalists in the country whose writings are neutral and who simply report the news as is.
Vishnu Bisram
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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