Dear Editor,
There’s a special kind of shame that settles over a nation when its fourth estate, those meant to shine a light on corruption and power, gladly gathers in the gilded halls of State House for eggs, photo ops, and proximity to power. The recent PPP-sponsored media brunch was clearly not a celebration of press freedom. The PPP has no interest in a free press It was a staged performance, another desperate act by a regime trying to co-opt, cow, and corrupt what remains of independent journalism in Guyana.
And it worked. Many of the so-called journalists, without shame or self-awareness, flocked to the State House as if summoned by a divine calling. They smiled for the cameras, gobbled down brunch, and forgot, if only for a day, that they are supposed to speak truth to power. Some even rubbed shoulders with the same officials who spend every week berating them at Jagdeo’s propaganda hour.
To be clear, this was not about honoring press freedom. It was about rewarding obedience. The PPP knows full well that the media landscape is already chillingly controlled, with their loyal propaganda outlets Guyana Daily News, The Standard, Newsroom and not to forget Critics leading the way. We must not forget “Live in Guyana”—a vile digital rag run by a sitting PPP minister—routinely publishing character assassinations and sexist, racist attacks against critics. Ironically the president of the Guyana Press Association, Nazima Raghubir, has herself been the target of their bile, yet the media filled the room and the President stood before the same media and had the audacity to pledge support for press freedom.
It was instruction to note who wasn’t at the brunch and who was not invited, this is the list of journalists who are most credible in Guyana. These are the journalists this government fears most because they won’t bow, won’t flatter, and won’t be bribed by pancakes and champagne.
Editor, please allow me to share some of the views I noted on social media. One citizen observed, “You mean you didn’t see the real ones, the ones he and his government can’t manipulate or threaten?” Precisely. another citizen chimed in, “Those journalists ask the questions that the dunce cannot answer.” And yet another system nailed the hypocrisy: “The ones who complain about the government’s attack on the press were seen there in all smiles.”
What’s worse is that many of these media personalities knew exactly what this was. A ploy. A charade. A gilded invitation to reinforce PPP’s control, served on a silver platter. The media’s job is not to attend cocktail brunches at the seat of executive power. It is to expose what that power does behind closed doors.
And still, they came.
Editor I fear that if the watchdog becomes a lapdog then our democracy is doomed. Clearly the PPP doesn’t need to muzzle the press anymore, they simply throw it a bone, and it forgets how to bite.
We must remain vigilant. The stakes are too high. The future too fragile. And our democracy, already wounded by systemic injustice, cannot survive if the people meant to hold power accountable are clinking glasses with the ones they’re supposed to investigate.
Thank you
Nigel Brandsford