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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
There is another breach of democracy in Guyana media environment. This time Guyanas President Bharrat banned Capitol News reporter Gordon Moseley from the Office of the President (OP) and State House. According to Jagdeo, the ban follows what he termed disparaging and disrespectful remarks Moleseley made in a letter he sent to a Guyanese newspapers. A security guard informed the senior reporter about the ban when he visited the Office of the President for an assignment and later, he received a letter to this effect from Government Information Agency (GINA) Head Neaz Subhan. Moseley was told that should he apologize, then the ban would be lifted. But Moseley, who is also a producer at the newscast, refused to apologize and questioned what accreditation for OP and State House was withdrawing since he has never been issued any such accreditation. He said as far as he knew no such accreditation has been granted to any media worker and as such he was at a lost as to what accreditation they are talking about. This is not the first attempt by the Guyanese head of state, through the Gov. Information news agency to control the media and what it does. In the past several journalists have been killed and even jailed for their criticism against the government. The Guyana press Association has condemned the Ban and is working to lift it.
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