Kaieteur News gets severe blows for engaging in “gutter journalism”

Kaieteur News Publisher Glenn Lall continues to be denounced for his alleged illegal recording of a conversation between one of his r–eporters and Attorney General Anil Nandlall.

Already several persons and organisation have condemned the recent act by Lall, who admitted that he tapes the conversation of his reporters.

The Attorney General has since filed court actions against Lall and also sued him, his Editor Adam Harris and his newspaper outfit for libellous publications arising from the tape.

Since the surreptitious recording of the Attorney General, several public officials have expressed concerns about the privacy of conversations they might have had with staff of the newspaper and some have been refusing to take calls from reporters of the news outfit.

One letter writer Faruk Mohamed commenting generally on the illegal taping, said: “It is… unquestionably obvious, that the kind of journalism the Kaieteur News subscribes to is devoid of any fairness or balance.”

He said within the course of one year, 50 lawsuits have been filed against this newspaper, and it is internationally recognised that the Kaieteur News is the most sued news outlet in the world.

“Is this not an indication of the type of journalism being practiced by this news outfit?” he asked.

Alarmed

Only on Tuesday, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) had said that it was alarmed at the illegal recording.

FITUG said it has been following, in a general way, the public brouhaha which have stemmed from the taping of the conversation and many of those views focused on the content of the purported tape, which, seemingly, is providing a grand opportunity for essentially the politically-inclined to do some personal bashing.

“But those who are hastening to take a passing advantage at this turn of events should not be short-sighted nor should they allow any exultation at this act obscure to its graver implications.”

For FITUG, certain concerns have come up. The union said there was the disgusting and illegal nature of the taping of a private conversation by two persons, in this case, school chums.

“It is scary to know that in our midst are persons who will not hesitate to violate our right to privacy, in this instance, that of our AG. It may be germane to ask: If the Attorney General of our country can be so easily targeted and illegally taped, who else within the higher echelons of our state apparatus – Government and/or security forces – are being targeted at this time and so on?” FITUG said it found it instructive that the voices shunning intrusion of privacy were not as strong as “one should expect”.

Unprofessional journalism

Before FITUG’s statement, Government on Sunday said Kaieteur News has been engaged in an unwavering and institutionalised policy of unprofessional journalism, which has deteriorated to such levels that the newspaper is now “making up” stories. Noting that the newspaper lacks professional and ethical tenets, Government said the media house is “steeped in fabrications, distortions, character assassination and homophobia”.

It said its prime targets have been the Government, Government Ministers, senior functionaries of the State, sections of the business community, religious organisations, sections of the labour movement and sections of the civil society supportive of the Government “and indeed anyone with whom the newspaper Publisher has a personal grievance”.

According to the Government, headlines are frequently enlarged and inaccurately sensationalised to scandalise issues and persons and are often times not borne out by the stories to which they relate, even as distorted and inaccurate as those stories themselves are.

“A column within the newspaper which is supposedly satirical, bearing the colloquial caption ‘Dem boys seh’ has been used as an instrument to publish the vilest, most libellous and homophobic sentiments of and concerning hapless citizens.” Government said attempts by those aggrieved by these offensive publications to solicit apologies, retractions or clarifications are met with further abuse and sometimes with greater intensity in subsequent publications.

Observers have charged that Lall was in breach of the Interception of Communications Act. The Act of 2008 prohibits the interception of communications unless a warrant is issued by a judge based on an application.

The law is also clear that any recording or tapping of citizens’ private communications must be authorised by the Chief-of-Staff of the Army, the Commissioner of Police, and the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). However, these officers would first have to apply to a judge for a 90-day warrant to intercept communications.

Only under these conditions does the Act allow the monitoring and recording of transmissions conveyed by fibre-optic cable or any other form of wire line, by wireless telegraphy, Voice Over Internet Protocol, Internet satellite and all other forms of electromagnetic or electrochemical communication.

According to the law, anyone found guilty of illegal wiretapping would be liable to a fine of Gy$5 million and a jail term not exceeding three years.