See statement from the Guyana Press Association:
The Guyana Press Association (GPA) condemns the most dastardly and pathetic expletive-laced attack on Guyana Chronicle reporter Ms Tamica Garnett by a senior political operative of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR).
Based on her account, a recording of which has been provided to the executive of the GPA, the APNU Chief Scrutineer Carol Joseph used indecent language in rejecting a request by Ms. Garnett for information.
This attack on Ms Garnett marks a new low in relations between the media and the political directorate in Guyana. It is now apparent that the transgressions against the media by the People’s Progressive Party and the PNCR/APNU is the one common feature both political parties share.
The GPA calls on Mr Aubrey Norton, who is the PNCR Leader, Chairman of APNU and Guyana’s Opposition Leader to publicly apologise to Ms Garnett and issue a commitment that his party would not subject members of the media to such acrimonious and indecent outbursts by any of his members.
Failure to do so would certainly make him complicit at minimum.
The GPA fully recognises the diverse ownership and influence in a number of media houses but at the same time condemns any attack on media workers to execute their duties. Mindful of the need to provide fair and balanced coverage in keeping with international standards, the GPA is cognisant of the historic fact that the government-owned media operates at the behest of whichever party is in government.
Media workers in the State media are subjected to more than just editorial control.
The brutal psychological attack on Ms Garnett is yet another such example that puts at greater risk journalists and other media workers in the course of the performance of their duties.
