- conference slated for tomorrow
A NUMBER of activities have been planned in observance of World Press Freedom Day on May 3 and Government, to mark this occasion, will be hosting a conference for the media at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, tomorrow.

Expressing the hope that he would see all media persons at the event, Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon yesterday told his weekly post-Cabinet news conference it is his expectation that during the event, the media could meet and ‘share some of the nuances that exist in the implementation of press freedom and freedom of expression’.

“In terms of a message or an additional message, it is the abiding commitment by the State to use the media, the abiding commitment to ensure that the media functions, performs in socially acceptable ways to discharge constitutional obligations and for it to be done with full respect for national laws, international norms and as our motto suggests, looking at it from the perspective of empowering the Guyanese people, so that’s a message that we would want to bring out,” Dr. Luncheon explained.

The Cabinet Secretary believes that there may be others celebrating World Press Freedom Day in other ways around the same period and it must be recognised that there are many varied interests at play on the issue.

“Indeed all of them have been cultivated simultaneously in Guyana and, notwithstanding claims to the otherwise, indeed (Press Freedom) is well entrenched, well respected here in Guyana. I see no reason why - as important a subject matter as World Press Freedom, particularly in the context of all of the noises, claims and allegations that have been made about its respect and how it is treated in Guyana, that many voices should not be speaking on the same subject at the same time,” Dr. Luncheon concluded.