Friday, March 24, 2023
Village Voice News
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Home
  • News
  • Sports
  • Editorial
  • Letters
  • Global
  • Columns
    • Eye On Guyana
    • Hindsight
    • Lincoln Lewis Speaks
    • Future Notes
    • Blackout
    • From The Desk of Roysdale Forde SC
    • Diplomatic Speak
    • Mark’s Take
    • In the village
    • Mind Your Business
    • Bad & Bold
    • The Voice of Labour
    • The Herbal Section
    • Politics 101 with Dr. David Hinds
    • Talking Dollars & Making Sense
    • Book Review 
  • Education & Technology
  • E-Paper
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Sports
  • Editorial
  • Letters
  • Global
  • Columns
    • Eye On Guyana
    • Hindsight
    • Lincoln Lewis Speaks
    • Future Notes
    • Blackout
    • From The Desk of Roysdale Forde SC
    • Diplomatic Speak
    • Mark’s Take
    • In the village
    • Mind Your Business
    • Bad & Bold
    • The Voice of Labour
    • The Herbal Section
    • Politics 101 with Dr. David Hinds
    • Talking Dollars & Making Sense
    • Book Review 
  • Education & Technology
  • E-Paper
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Village Voice News
No Result
View All Result
Home Letters

Fictional $100 billion number shows the perils of chasing headlines, not facts 

Staff Reporter by Staff Reporter
October 15, 2020
in Letters
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Support Village Voice News With a Donation of Your Choice.

Dear Editor,

I have been deeply disheartened by a trend that seems to infect more of our journalists by the day.  Our politics have always been hamstrung by sensational and tabloid media. But even by those low standards I was stunned to see the piece in Kaieteur News “The Oil Giveaway Graveyard” and its claim that “In excess of one hundred billion American dollars of our oil wealth were given away by PPP leaders, with the Coalition and civil society silently consenting. THIS WAS ON THE CANJE OIL BLOCK ALONE.”

READ ALSO

What is Gov’ts arrangement in Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase?

Senior Counsel Stephen Fraser was neither a party to the action nor was he afforded any opportunity to be heard

It is one thing to exaggerate a number or posit a hypothetical. But this number is transparently pulled from thin air. There has not been one discovery on the Canje Block. Exploration has barely even begun. No wells have been drilled. How could Kaieteur News and its anonymous reporters possibly know what it’s worth or what might have been “given away”?

No established government entity, international organisation, company or analyst has even attempted to put a specific value on such an unknowable quantity as an unexplored 6,000 square km stretch of ocean. The Stabroek Block has had 18 real, confirmed discoveries and still its full value may not be known for years.

Advertisement

Yet this journalist appears willing to fabricate a number in order to have a salacious opening line. And all for a two-paragraph story liberally salted with screaming capital letters and innuendos that do nothing to actually educate the reader. There has never been a more critical time in Guyana for real, solid, fact-based reporting. Guyana is on the cusp of massive change. Unimaginable wealth and corrosive corruption are both real possibilities. The wall between them is built from transparency, ethics and smart policies. None of those are possible without a responsible media. Guyanese should form their own opinions, but those opinions must be grounded in a shared universe of neutral, verifiable facts. Stories like this do the opposite. They substitute wild accusations for reasoned debate and sow division and distrust at the time when the truth is most critical.

Regards

Donald Singh



Support Village Voice News With a Donation of Your Choice



ShareTweetSendShareSend

Related Posts

Letters

What is Gov’ts arrangement in Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase?

by Admin
March 22, 2023

Dear Editor, This has reference to reports and commentaries on ongoing work relating to the construction of the Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase Inc...

Read more
Letters

Senior Counsel Stephen Fraser was neither a party to the action nor was he afforded any opportunity to be heard

by Admin
March 20, 2023

Dear Editor, Release on behalf of Stephen Fraser. S.C. Reference is made to the news article published in the Stabroek...

Read more
Letters

The PNCR famous four- Natasha, Ganesh, Daniel and Ubraj

by Admin
March 19, 2023

Dear Editor, The PNCR, a predominantly black political party in Guyana, was recently thrust into the spotlight when four of...

Read more
Next Post

Our judicial system is sorely in need of an overhaul. 

EDITOR'S PICK

JUST START

November 7, 2021

Ms Feiona Otto is determined to bring opportunity to the children of Kaneville

December 19, 2022

China urges Japan to exercise restraint in military, security fields

December 27, 2022
Chris Gayle continues his poor form

Gayle scores 20 as West Indies lose warm up match against Pakistan

October 18, 2021

© 2022 Village Voice | Developed by Ink Creative Agency

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Sports
  • Editorial
  • Letters
  • Global
  • Columns
    • Eye On Guyana
    • Hindsight
    • Lincoln Lewis Speaks
    • Future Notes
    • Blackout
    • From The Desk of Roysdale Forde SC
    • Diplomatic Speak
    • Mark’s Take
    • In the village
    • Mind Your Business
    • Bad & Bold
    • The Voice of Labour
    • The Herbal Section
    • Politics 101 with Dr. David Hinds
    • Talking Dollars & Making Sense
    • Book Review 
  • Education & Technology
  • E-Paper
  • Contact Us

© 2022 Village Voice | Developed by Ink Creative Agency