Kaieteur News using satirical blogs to spread misinformation about oil and gas 

Dear Editor,

In what must be the lowest of lows, the Kaieteur News in its ongoing anti-oil campaign seems to have run out of attack material and is now resorting to pulling information from satirical blogs and other such websites, to generate ‘news’.

In the Wednesday March 10 edition of the newspapers, an article captioned “ExxonMobil hands over ‘blank cheque’ to US court for future violations of Environmental Laws” was published. The content for this article, all of which is patently false and misleading, was originally published by the Onion, an American satirical digital media company and newspaper organization. That satirical article can be accessed here: https://www.theonion.com/exxonmobil-throws-in-a-couple-extra-million-while-payin-1846416933

A cursory read of the Onion’s article shows that this is exactly where the Kaieteur News gleaned its information from. While this may seem hilarious at best or shameful at worse, for me it is extremely concerning. The Kaieteur News is where many people get their information about what is going on in this country from, not only in the area of oil and gas, but across the national spectrum. To know that the information being peddled as ‘news’ is derived from satirical blogs, tabloids, and sources that themselves have no allegiance to fact and truth, is a hard pill to swallow.

How many more reports have appeared in the Kaieteur News, quoting ‘experts’ and ‘sources’ that were really based on made-up information? How can this outfit be trusted? I call on the Editor and Publisher of the Kaieteur News to issue a front-page apology to the Guyanese people for this violation of their trust, lest the newspaper continues to be viewed as merely a member of the Fourth Estate that has lost its way.

Regards

Donald Singh