COMMENT ON INDEPENDENT REFEERING PANEL STATEMENT

 

The PPP/C is happy that that the Independent Refereeing Panel, set up under the GECOM Media Code of Conduct, has commenced its public assessment of the conduct of sections of the media in the context of the guidelines of the Code. In response to media queries, the PPP/C wishes to comment on a few issues raised in the Independent Refereeing Panel press release of August 2, 2006.

Media personnel on Parties’ Lists

The PPP/C national list of candidates contains two persons of active journalistic background. One candidate was forced to resign his position by the Stabroek News (and is currently not a practicing journalist). The other candidate has asked to be reassigned from presenting the newscast and on reporting on the elections campaign.  

It must be recognised that our Constitution guarantees freedom of political association. The PPP/C will not stop anyone, including persons who do not subscribe to its programme, from exercising that right which was won after long and hard struggles.

In fact, the President of Guyana has made it clear that persons working in government agencies on political parties’ lists of candidates will not be asked to resign or pressured in anyway. There are persons who are on Opposition lists of candidates working in government ministries.           

In relation to media owners who are active political parties leaders and candidates (CN Sharma and Tony Vieira), the PPP/C shares the view of the Independent Panel that they should respect the Code of Conduct and we do anticipate further pronouncement on the violations by these individuals.  

 

Stabroek News malicious reporting against the PPP/C

The false, reckless and unsubstantiated report by the Stabroek News that the PPP/C paid persons $3000 to participate in its nomination day parade is still to be retracted or an apology offered as pointed out by the Independent Panel.

The PPP/C rejects the attempt by some to create the impression that it was our Presidential Candidate or the General Secretary which launched an attack on the Stabroek News. That newspaper’s false report of July 27 was just the latest in a string of unfair and bias reporting against the President, the PPP/C Government and the PPP. The PPP/C was merely responding to the attacks on its integrity and character. One recognizes that the Independent Panel cannot comment on breaches of journalistic standards which fall outside of the period of its monitoring. However, we invite the Panel to review the content of this publication only just over the past two months so as to appreciate the gravity of the situation.

Another recent example of unfair reporting has been the Stabroek News’ failure to seek a response to claims made by a candidate of the AFC against the PPP. When the General Secretary penned a correction, just a few lines of his statement were reported and the entire false claims were repeated for a second time.

A trend of the editorials of the Stabroek News shows that more than 80% of the editorials is  unfavourable to the PPP/C. Also, more than 75% of the letter columns space is dedicated to letters opposed to the PPP/C.

The PPP/C wishes to point out that the Stabroek News is not singular in this regard as there are a few other media outlets which slant their reportage against the PPP/C. These entities’ owners are openly aligned with the Opposition or are in the Elections contest.

The PPP/C respects the right of any media house to freely express its views and to align with any political movement. This right we shall guard. But we will not shy away from responding on our platform to the malicious and unsubstantiated political attacks purveyed by these media outfits.  We stand by the assertions of the PPP/C Presidential Candidate and the General Secretary of the PPP.

GINA personnel at PPP/C rally

The several GINA personnel present at the PPP/C Albion rally were there in their private capacity and not on duty. The Code of Conduct only calls for “refrain from wearing any political party paraphernalia when reporting on the elections campaign.”  Clearly, there was no breach of the Code of Conduct as suggested by a media outfit owned by a PNCR candidate.  Once again, the Constitution of Guyana guarantees freedom of political association and no one in the PPP/C will stand in the way of anyone who wants to exercise his or her own right. The expression of this right does not automatically constitute a breach of professionalism, in any discipline. 

The PPP/C encourages all media houses/owners and practitioners to abide with the media Code of Conduct and urges all political parties to conduct a civil and responsible elections campaign.

 

Robert Persaud

PPP/C Elections Campaign Spokesman

PPP/C Media Centre,  Freedom House 

August 03, 2006

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