ON the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2008, the Guyana Press Association (GPA) salutes all media workers in Guyana and pays tribute to those who died while performing their sacred role of presenting the truth.

In a statement the GPA said media managers and media workers need to take advantage of training opportunities to arrest declined standards in both the broadcast and print media.

The GPA said while it recognises that “we are not all working for the same media entities, it is our firm belief that we must all abide by the sacred principles of journalism. Equally, media workers must guard against private interests that seek to similarly engage in media manipulation to avoid the publicity of certain issues about themselves or their opponents or competitors.”

The statement added that this day should also cause us to do some serious self-examination both as a fraternity and as individual journalists. Of particular concern to the GPA is the number of training programmes we have organised during the past months with less than satisfactory responses especially from the younger journalists.

“At the same time, we continue to receive negative reviews for our work, which points to the need for training, the GPA observed.

“Moreover, on this occasion of World Press Freedom Day, it is critical that the media fraternity in Guyana and the Caribbean Community understand the importance of its role in shaping societal values and safeguarding the public’s right to know whilst holding fast to the tenets of the profession. It must be understood that the freedoms – though often threatened — taken for granted in countries such as ours are still non-existent in some jurisdictions,” the GPA declared