Dear Editor,

I note Mr. Vishnu Bisram’s response to my criticism of the Guyana Times (`Prof Hinds did not call out the other newspapers&rsquo in the October 28 edition of the Stabroek News. He censures me for not providing evidence to support my claims against Guyana Times. He accuses me of not knowing the difference between satire and personal attacks. He charges me with protecting my buddies in other newspapers. He chastises me for being concerned with the plight of “only” African Guyanese. And he finds me guilty on all counts

Mr. Bisram makes some circular arguments, which I will leave alone. But a close reading of his letter reveals that his real intent was to air his grouses against other newspapers and my “buddies.” So, he ends up doing the same thing he accuses me of—not calling out or, in his case, defending other papers. In any case I stand by my criticisms of Guyana Times.

As for Mr. Bisram’s request for my evidence of Guyana Times’ vileness, here is part of the Times response to me:

“David Hinds castigated the Editor of the Guyana Times in a letter to the Muckraker, which he didn’t have the guts to send to the Times. He likes to cuss people from behind fences. In the letter, he concedes that “newspapers take sides…that’s a fact of life”. And he doesn’t have a problem if the Times supports the PPP/C Government, since the Stabber supports the Opposition AFC and the Muckraker supports the Opposition APNU. So far so good. But where Hinds makes one doubt he ever earned a PhD is when he claims “all Opposition people” get the stick in the Times, but somehow he discerns a “racist demonisation” of the Opposition members who’re African Guyanese. The Indian Guyanese ones just get a “special kind of abuse” …but it’s not “racist”. Hinds doesn’t say what are the criteria for his distinction for a simple reason. He can’t!!”

Mr. Bisram calls that satire and picong.

Yours faithfully,

David Hinds