Minister McCoy chides media house for vindictive portrayal of press freedom

Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister with Responsibility for Public Affairs and Information, Kwame McCoy has condemned Stabroek News Publication for its overbearing attempts at spreading misinformation.

In a statement issued on Monday, the public affairs minister outlined that there seems to be an inherent attempt at insinuating limitations to exercising a right to freedom of the press.

He pointed out that the publication “has now gone to a new low” of distorting the comments of the Former Jamaican Minister of Information, Robert Nesta Morgan, during his recent visit to Guyana for World Press Freedom Day activities.

“The Stabroek News has found it strangely convenient to pull up limited and selected parts of the minister’s comments during the activities in Guyana to somehow contextualise another of its missives designed to continue framing the Guyana Government as antithetical to the international conventions on press freedom,” the Minister mentioned.

Minister McCoy stressed that the current PPP/C Government has gone to great lengths to uphold principles of press freedom in the country. He noted that these freedoms can foster a higher calibre of information dissemination while promoting a general progression in this critical sector.

“Our government has been at pains to expand its accessibility for the media, strengthen the framework for access to information, and build capacity across the board to enable individual and collective growth in the sector,” he stressed.

In a further demonstration of the government’s commitment to maintaining good relations with the press, the public affairs minister referred to the Access to Information Act (2011), as it continues to provide the media with opportunities for public dialogue and discourse.

“Our Access to Information Act has been in existence for over a decade; our government consistently facilitates access to the media through a multiplicity of channels including weekly high-level press conferences from the Vice President and General Secretary of the ruling party, periodic press conferences and regular ad hoc facilitation of access to the Head of State, and unfettered access to ministers within their offices and in the fields,” He highlighted.

Minister McCoy reminded that Guyana’s digital media landscape benefits from unrestricted freedoms, once they are aligned with and would not infringe on existing laws.

He was adamant that the government has pledged to safeguard its citizens from any attempts to undermine or subvert these constitutional protections.

Moreover, the government, along with other nations across the world, have continuously argued that the criteria for the assessment of press freedom within any country is fundamentally flawed.

Minister McCoy argued that democracy is multidimensional but the analysis of the relationship between governments and media is one-sided.

“The analysis of the democratic interplay between governments and the media cannot be viewed only through the perspective of the government’s relations and treatment of the media, as reported by the media, the analysis must be conducted both ways on the spectrum,” the minister cited.

Minister McCoy also encouraged members of the private media to remain objective and maintain ethical practices that are in line with global standards.

“In the interest of the preservation of all aspects of our democratic ecosystem, the private media in Guyana must return and stick to unjaundiced professional practice as required by the conventions that underpin its global ethos, and leave politics exclusively to political parties,” he underlined.

In response to this attempt at disinformation, Minister Morgan on Monday also released a statement in which he resolutely denied making any specific statements regarding Guyana.  

“I find the story lacking context and wrong and it should be withdrawn. It essentially uses my speech to create a narrative I never said.” The former Jamaican minister clarified.