The media has been unfair to me – Prime Minister
By Abena Rockcliffe
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo is of the view that the media has been unfair to him by publishing several articles that lacked accuracy. The articles referenced to were those that spoke about Nagamootoo’s approach in handling the affairs of the state media, as the Minister responsible for information. It was reported that Nagamootoo accosted a young Chronicle reporter who wrote a story that carried the headline: “Gov’t blunders on Budget Estimates … violates laws assented to by President Granger”. The reports continued that Nagamootoo told the reporter about his disappointment with the article. Sections of the media also had it that as a result of the publication of that story that painted Government in a bad light, Nagamootoo instructed that all headlines in the Chronicle be approved by his Director of Public Information before publication. Other reports lamented that Nagamootoo was seeking to tamper with overall press freedom in Guyana. During a recent interview, the Prime Minister said that those reports could not be further from the truth. “In fact, I am appalled that people who come out to express solicitation to the media had not paid attention to accuracy. I never intimidated the reporter; I have never threatened the reporter. He approached me, I had not accosted him; he accosted me,” said Nagamootoo. The Minister said that the reporter wanted to interview him so he inquired to which newspaper the reporter was attached, “He told me ‘Chronicle’ and I said ‘Oh, that newspaper with the horrible headline.” The Prime Minister continued, “Those who have made allegations against me of interfering with the professional duties of journalists, those who said that I have asked people to toe the line, those who said that I have threatened press freedom, I think they have been unfair to me and they ought to have been able to report factually.” Nagamootoo said that he resisted “the temptation to answer to all of this.” Nagamootoo said, “I have never asked Chronicle, for example, to project the APNU+AFC. I have seen Jagdeo on the front page, in the middle pages; I have seen the PPP and Rohee all over the Chronicle. Mark Ramotar came to me to offer his resignation and I refused to accept it. “I said Mark you can do better; I brought you into the world of journalism and I think I can trust you to return to the path of professionalism. That’s all that I did.” The Prime Minister said that he took blows from his colleagues in government because he appeared not to have had “things under control” in the State and Government media. Nagamootoo said that the State media needs to develop a more balanced and fair approach towards the government and to ensure that the government business is given adequate, fair and proportionate coverage. Nagamootoo then moved to defend his right to an opinion saying, “I am a citizen of this country and I have a view. Being Prime Minister and Minister with responsibility for Public Information, do not take away my right to agree or not agree with a headline. “But like I said, I had not spoken to this reporter about his article. We had a conversation and I had wanted this journalist to place on the record what exactly happened during this conversation.”
