Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Guyana government denies involvement in pulling state ads from newspaper
01-19-2007

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: The Guyana government on Thursday denied claims that it was behind a move that saw the withdrawal of state advertisements from the privately-owned Stabroek News.

Editor-in-Chief of the Stabroek News, David de Caries, had described the move by government as ‘an attack on the free press’ that was ‘politically motivated’.

However, government spokesman, Dr Roger Luncheon dismissed the claims.

"I don’t believe that we are, at the level of the Administration, beholden to any entity in the media to provide State support, save and except that the process is transparent and it addresses those prime determinants - financial and economic considerations," Dr Luncheon stated.

He said that “Quite logically, were the financial and economic considerations to dictate otherwise, then there would be a basis for the decision to be revisited."

Luncheon noted that attempts by Stabroek News to sensationalise a policy decision by the Government Information Agency (GINA), to review the placement of governmental advertisements in the daily publication is doomed to failure, and will not have an impact on government’s move to ensure that maximum returns are achieved on its advertising dollar.

“The seeming move to sensationalise the issue, maybe even regional or internationalise it, and perhaps thus bring pressure to bear on the administration; my experience so far is that they are all doomed to failure. I don’t see the likely reaction would overturn the force and the imperatives of the financial and economic considerations,” he said.

In a press release issued on January 15, GINA stated that ‘the basis for the placement of advertisements in the media is linked to the public’s response to such advertisements.

"Huge responses to our advertisements emanate from the Kaieteur News and the Guyana Chronicle, and we are constantly seeking to maximise the impact on our advertisements, in the interest of efficiency," the agency stated.