STABROEK NEWS ALTERED THE RHYTHM OF LIFE – GOODBYE AND THANKS
Just one year before the birth of Stabroek News, friends, colleagues and acquaintances, who were disaffected PNC supporters, and even some cautious PPP supporters, were hopeful that new policy directions would emerge under President Hoyte, following the passing of President Burnham in 1985. Alas, the audacious rigging of the 1985 elections that gave the PNC even more votes than the rigged 1980 elections, signaled that nothing material in terms of democracy would change.
The new economic direction under the Economic Recovery Programme, supported by the IMF and World Bank, wrought a worse economic disaster than Guyana was experiencing under Burnham. The Guyana dollar was devalued from $45 to US$1 to $125 to US$1. There was extensive “redeployment,” meaning “retrenchment,” and a wage and salary freeze in the public sector. Privatisation vanquished the public sector. Jobs disappeared. The middle class vanished. Poverty stalked the land. Guyana slid next to Haiti as the poorest country in the hemisphere.
When President Hoyte answered in the affirmative to David deCaires in 1986 that he would approve the publication of a newspaper, Guyana emitted a collective breadth of hope and anticipation. The media landscape was arid and gloomy. No independent media house existed. The most prominent and largest circulating newspaper, Mirror, had been decimated by the starvation of newsprint, sanctioned by the court in Hope v New Guyana Ltd 1979. Its four-page, thrice weekly remnant, with substantially reduced circulation, struggled to survive. The intrepid Catholic Standard, buffeted by libel cases, even smaller than the Mirror, and Dayclean, were awaited with anticipation by a news hungry Georgetown. In the absence of news, the society thrived on rumours.
In Guyana, as in the rest of the unfree world, stepping on freedom of expression is one of the first signs of dictatorship. It is never voluntarily restored. The fact that it was partially restored in Guyana in 1986 with the publication of the Stabroek News suggested at the time to those who were paying close attention that it was not due to the democratic credentials of President Hoyte but to the weakening of the dictatorship over which he presided. Keen observers understood that the political struggle against authoritarian rule had to be intensified.
Stabroek News quickly became a daily newspaper after initially being bi-weekly, then tri-weekly, printed in Trinidad and flown to Guyana. For the first time in many years Guyanese were able to read available news, presented accurately and in an impartial manner. The editorial and letter column reflected among others, the issues of freedom, democracy, free and fair elections. But these also roamed far and wide. Political ideology in the era of glasnost and perestroika, neoliberalism, the Washington Consensus, IMF conditionalities, Guyana’s Economic Recovery Programme, poverty, corruption, were openly discussed after decades of silence or flawed reporting. Stabroek News supported liberal democracy and a market economy for Guyana.
Inevitably, much attention was paid to the main issue of the day – free and fair elections. In a relentless pursuit of the restoration of free and fair elections, Stabroek News did not falter. As the dictatorship unraveled, Stabroek News being the first breach in the authoritarian barricade, the paper reported fully on the rise of GUARD in 1990, Guyanese Action for Reform and Democracy, a civic alliance of the businesspeople, professionals, trade unionists and others. Finally, after decades of political effort by the PPP and later the WPA, civil society took a public stance against dictatorship. Stabroek News highlighted this development which shaped the outcome of the new administration ushered in by free and fair elections.
Stabroek News altered the rhythm of life in Guyana. Riding that crest of political and civic engagement by the public, Stabroek News provided the raw material, hard news accurately reported, and opinions logically presented or controversially argued. Whereas, prior to 1986, we looked forward to the rumours next morning, after 1986, we looked forward to the Stabroek News. The day’s editorial and letter column became, and remained to this day, a regular topic of conversation. Like all good newspapers, it influenced policy and raised the hackles of politicians. It had a role in shaping our mornings and setting the tone for the day. Whether we like it or not, agree with it or not, support it or not, once we supported democracy, we felt a sense of comfort and security that Stabroek News existed.
Guyanese should be deeply concerned that Guyana’s newspaper of record is closing and that the media landscape will be substantially diminished. Stabroek News helped to restore democracy, to maintain it in 2020, and is a bulwark against authoritarian rule. It played a vital hope in maintaining Guyana as a country with free and fair elections, notwithstanding the EU Report. A media landscape that is free and populated by quality operators and institutions, adhering to high standards of journalism, is a vital element in sustaining democracy. Sharief Khan, Anand Persaud, Anna Benjamin and others played vital roles. The absence of Stabroek News should be a cause for alarm and trepidation.
As I say goodbye to Stabroek News, I join with those Guyanese who applaud and pay tribute to the vision of David deCaires, the commitment of Doreen deCaires and Miles Fitzpatrick and their service to Guyana. They deserve our thanks.
