He also pointed to the abuse of state media and the demeaning of what the government terms the opposition press. The ambassador, quoting the IPI report, said that state media continues to be a powerful force but are widely viewed as propaganda vehicles for the government and appear to be frequently abused in order to attack the political opposition. “The United States shares IPI’s belief that state and public media “should represent the views of all political actors in a fair and balanced manner,” Hardt said. He also said that the use of the term “opposition media” to describe any media institution that is not controlled by the government is demeaning and fails to do justice to the vital role that an independent media must play in a modern, democratic society. “The use of this appellation is also inaccurate. Anyone who reads or watches independent media in Guyana will see that there are letters to the editor supportive of the government, columns that advocate government positions, and generally balanced reporting on actions of government. By contrast, in the state-owned and state-run media, which should hold itself up to an even higher standard of balance by virtue of its being funded by taxpayers, one hardly ever sees a letter to the editor or a column supportive of the opposition or critical of the government,” Hardt said. “In fact, the public reads about instructions being passed by the government to state-run television criticizing staff for airing statements by an opposition party directly after the government’s position was presented, and indicating that such presentations were only to be aired late at night when viewership was lowest,” he added.
Posted on: Mon, 05 May 2014 18:03:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015