Disturbing trends towards restriction of information

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56526764

Disturbing trends towards restriction of information
Stabroek News
Tuesday, August 14th 2007

Dear Editor,

Recently, we have noticed some disturbing trends towards press control
and manipulation of information.

The government instead of honestly and appropriately dealing with the
numerous problems facing the nation are more concerned with how it is
perceived; and it seems to think that if its critics are also silenced
it would be more favourably perceived by the local population
(particularly its election-support base) and the international
community.

The government has failed to facilitate the passage of 'the Freedom of
Information Act' piloted in Parliament by Mr R. Trotman of the Alliance
for Change (AFC).

Most disturbing, now that forestry issues are under the microscope the
government has passed a 'gag law,' supposedly after consultation with
the requisite stakeholders.

Today forestry officials and employees are 'gagged'; tomorrow mining
officials could also get the same "gag law." What or who is next -
engineering, environmental officials, army, police, etc? We know that
UG officials already deny anything that does not make their political
bosses look good.

The Govt already has its own TV station, newspaper, and radio. However,
even these resources are not enough, it has employed several ghost
writers to daily swamp the papers with letters singing the praises of
the government.

The PPP's cronies and friends in North America (eg NY) employed similar
strategies to silence dissenting views. This group told the publishers
of the community newspapers in NY that we are PNC activists and
anti-PPP. I had to explain to several people that I am not a member of
any political party and that I am just writing the truth about what I
have seen. These PPP supporters asked businesses to not advertise in
papers that were critical of UG. The community newspapers complied with
the requests. One that did not comply eventually went out of business.

If the current government continues to copy President Burnham's methods
we can expect more gagging of the press and independent media.

Yours faithfully,

Seelochan Beharry