Guyana

After arbitrarily withdrawing advertising from Stabroek News for 17 months, the Guyanese government resumed the placement of advertisements with the newspaper in April 2008. No explanation was provided for the resumption. It is widely believed that the withdrawal was aimed at punishing the newspaper for its candid views and editorial stance on governance improprieties. The withdrawal of the advertising constituted a severe attack on press freedom and violated several tenets of the Declaration of Chapultepec, which had been signed by Guyana. The cutoff of advertising was widely condemned by civil society and media groups locally, regionally and internationally. The established newspapers are monitoring with great interest the assigning of state advertising to a new newspaper in light of the grounds which had been cited by the government for the cessation of advertising with Stabroek News. The government suspended the license of CNS Channel 6 on April 11, 2008, for rebroadcasting a remark by a caller that constituted a threat to the president. CNS Channel 6 is a popular channel that has been severely critical of the government over the life of its existence. The four-month suspension of the license was seen as excessive and having the effect of attacking the station’s press freedom. The channel resumed broadcasting at the end of the suspension but suffered a serious loss of revenue. At the end of February 2009, CNS Channel 6 said it was called by a very senior government official who instructed that a program dealing with the crisis engulfing Clico (Guyana) not be rebroadcast. Channel 6 then decided to review the program to determine if any of the content was exceptionable. This latest move poses a threat to press freedom, as no government official should be able to approach any television station and direct from on high what should or should not be broadcast without reference to some statute. This situation has been exacerbated by the absence of modern broadcasting legislation and the dormant state of the interim body that had been established to oversee the sector pending the passage of a broadcasting act. The Guyana Press Association and the media are monitoring the situation. A Capitol News WRHM 7 television reporter, Gordon Moseley, was banned by President Bharrat Jagdeo from attending press conferences at the Office of the President or State House. President Jagdeo was upset at the tone of a letter written by Moseley to the media defending his reportage on a summit at which President Jagdeo was present. The government maintains a radio monopoly that it inherited from the previous government in 1992. New broadcasting legislation had been promised a long time ago to regulate the issuing and renewal of licenses and to monitor broadcast standards, and a government spokesman had said that private radio licenses would then be issued, but nothing has been done. There is no freedom of information act. An opposition member of Parliament has tabled a freedom of information bill for consideration. The bill has so far not come up for debate and from all appearances is unlikely to win passage.