A regional media delegation has declared disappointment in its failure to resolve the dispute between the Stabroek News and the Guyana Government over the distribution of government advertising.
In a press release issued on Tuesday the delegation said that "the current unfair and undesirable situation of a total withdrawal of advertisements to the Stabroek News could objectively be viewed by independent observers as having the effect of subverting the commercial viability of the newspaper, and by extension, resulting in a press freedom problem."
It said that it did not consider it the obligation of the Guyana Government, or any Government for that matter, to subsidise any newspaper with advertisements that must be paid for from the national treasury.
"At the same time, in the Guyana situation, one peculiar to the rest of the Caribbean community, where advertisements from government ministries and state corporations can be vital for a media enterprise such as Stabroek News, the implications of reduction, and now total withdrawal of such advertising for its survival can hardly escape informed, independent assessment."
It noted that President Bharrat Jagdeo would know only too well how, in a different dispensation, press freedom was suffocated and impacted on larger freedoms in the Guyanese society. "Under his leadership" it said and "since 1992 Guyana has come a very far way in the enhancement of a stout reputation for democratic reforms and fundamental rights, including the right to dissent and press freedom."
"Even now, therefore" the delegation said "having been disappointed by the government's failure to take up our offer to help in the creation of a system of advertising distribution that could resolve the problem we look forward to an urgent announcement by President Jagdeo on the renewal of government and state corporation advertising to Stabroek News."
The media delegation comprised Mr Harold Hoyte (Barbados) representing One Caribbean Media Limited; Mr Dale Enoch (Trinidad and Tobago) President of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers; Mr Newton James (Jamaica) representing the Jamaica Gleaner, and Mr Rickey Singh the noted Guyana-born Caribbean journalist based in Barbados.
It had met President Jagdeo to discuss the dispute between the privately-owned Stabroek News and the Guyana Government over the curtailment of advertising from ministries and state corporations to that newspaper.
The meeting took place in St Vincent during the February 12-14 Inter-Sessional Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government with the specific intention of promoting an amicable resolution to the dispute.
The delegation recalled that President Jagdeo stoutly denied at the meeting that his government's decision to withdraw the advertisements and place them with the privately-owned Kaieteur News was designed to silence criticism by the Stabroek News. Nor, he argued, was it a fundamental issue of press freedom, as claimed by the Stabroek News. He contended that it was strictly an "economic decision" based on circulation and the government's desire was to have maximum advantage for its expenditure on media advertising.
The delegation pointed out that while the Stabroek News may indeed have suffered reductions in circulation, in the absence of any empirical evidence, based, for instance, on an Audit Bureau of Circulations examination of the circulation of newspapers in Guyana, it was difficult to objectively accept the official explanation that the withdrawal of government advertisements was simply one of "economic" judgement.
The release said that in an effort to strike a practical resolution, and conscious of the President's strongly expressed views on what his administration considers unfair and hostile journalism from the Stabroek News, the media delegation offered an initiative to help end a controversy that had the potential of hurting the reputation of Guyana by the perception abroad of a threat to press freedom at home.
First, an initiative to get the Stabroek News to end its daily publication on its front page of a statement: "This government is misusing taxpayers' funds in an effort to suppress this newspaper" which the government regarded as adding fuel to the controversy. That banner was withdrawn by the newspaper on the delegation's advice.
Secondly, the delegation offered its help, if needed, in the creation of a model for advertising distribution that would be fair and equitable insofar as the Government sought to maximise its expenditure.
However despite several further communications there was no positive response from the President and the delegation indicated that they would have to make a public statement of failure to effect a timely settlement.
David de Caires, the editor-in-chief of the Stabroek News, yesterday thanked the delegation for their efforts and regretted that it had not been possible to settle the mater amicably. He repeated the paper's well known position which was that this decision to withdraw advertisements had nothing whatever to do with circulation and was an attempt to punish the newspaper for its editorial content. He noted that this was a deliberate attack on press freedom and was an unfortunate departure from this government's previously relatively good record on press freedom. He noted that the delegation's proposal to advise on a fair system for the allocation of ads had been ignored. This newspaper has called for the paid circulation of the newspapers in Guyana to be properly audited and for the target audience of the respective newspapers to be taken into account. The government has withdrawn all advertisements from some twenty-nine ministries, government agencies and state corporations, in the latter cases without the knowledge or prior approval of their boards of directors.