Guyana’s private media may be both gullible to domestic terrorism and engaging in latent overtures to terrorism; political links to criminality also place some politicians within the realm of this sinister ‘overture’ engagement.

And make no mistake about the notion that terrorists use the media as an important barometer to measure their success; and so the Guyana private media with its distorted coverage can only aid the terrorists. The U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS) addressed this issue of what terrorists want from the media. And so here are some notes from the CRS on what the terrorists need from the media:

(1) Terrorists require publicity. Publicity for terrorists tells everyone that they are fighting for a cause that requires resolution.

(2) Terrorists need a sympathetic understanding of their cause and the actions they take; and they believe that the public needs help to understand their cause.

(3) Terrorists occasionally place sympathetic personnel within the media.

(4) Terrorists seek legitimacy to their causes through the media.

(5) Terrorists want the media to provide legitimacy to the opinions of some non-governmental organisations which may be covers for terrorists with regard to recruitment, funding, and travel.

(6) Terrorists want media coverage for acts that damage their enemy. Here the media is expected to spread panic, fear, and terror on terrorists’ acts, enabling the populace to feel uneasy about a government’s capacity to protect them. And this is exactly what the underlying factors were in the case of the Lusignan Massacre.

The private media’s distortions facilitate considerably the terrorists’ cause. A case in point is where the President never referred to all Buxton residents as criminals; the President has repeatedly spoke about criminal elements within the Buxton community; and the Joint Services are targeting such criminals; the President also did refer to the large number of Buxton residents as good and law-abiding citizens. And the President has been making similar remarks long before the Lusignan Massacre.

Take for instance, too, Stabroek News’ coverage of the clearing of dense vegetation at Buxton backlands; the newspaper comprehensively detailed Mr. Robert Corbin’s letter to the President, expressing his puzzlement at this new Joint Services’ activity; there are 11 distortions in the letter, according to Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee. Stabroek News carried all the distortions in Corbin’s letter.

Further, the day before Corbin issued his letter, the Government’s release noted that the Government will engage the various stakeholders on the question of compensation; the Stabroek News’ story failed to give credence to this aspect of compensation. According to the Standard Operating Procedures of the Joint Services, reparations will be effected for collateral damage.

And indeed, there also is a daily eruption of fog facts in the news, where useful information systematically fades away through opinioned newscasts; the result is a paralysis of analysis of the information; the newscasts are supposed to inform, but several aspects of the news often disinform, distort, and deceive.

There is still another side to these media distortions; excessive usage of ‘Reports suggest’; ‘Reliable reports state’; ‘this newspaper understands’ may in some cases conceal non-compliance with the verification principle. Journalists do not have to reveal their sources; but given the existing sensitivities in some stories, editors have to exercise greater vigilance where clearly excesses are being committed in the ‘reliable reports state’ reportage.

The coverage of the Lusignan massacre is another poignant example of distortion, deception, and misinformation; ethnic tribalists are hard at work in the media to present their ethnic position, and ‘screw’ objectivity and fairness; and in so doing, downplay the horrific Lusignan massacre. And so presenting distortions allows media houses to advance their own political agenda.

It’s time that sections of the private media tell the world about some progressive development in Guyana; frequently, they dwell disproportionately on negatives and peddle deceptions; and, indeed, anything disproportionate and deceptive would lend itself to distortions, outright lies. Clearly, the private media is showing its true colours in deceptive reporting; and in so doing, the media is adding its two cents’ worth to an orchestrated destabilisation programme for this country.

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Clearly, the private media is showing its true colors in deceptive reporting; and in so doing, the media is adding its two cents’ worth to an orchestrated destabilisation programme for this country.