At least three reporters attached to the Guyana Times Newspaper and TVG Channel 28 Evening News have tendered their resignations to the company with immediate effect over concerns about being asked to read stories on the evening television newscasts about the Publisher of the Kaieteur News Glen Lall.
Anchor/Reporter attached to TVG Leanna Bradshaw, handed in her resignation early on Tuesday morning after refusing to read a report during the previous night’s newscast about the publisher of the Kaieteur News. Two other reporters Sabatini Daniels & Whitney Persaud handed in their resignations on Tuesday morning in support of their colleague.
General Manager at Guyana Times/TVG, Daniel Singh on Tuesday confirmed the resignations to News Source. He said the news anchor expressed some fear for her safety in her resignation letter and pointed to the reports that she was asked to read on the evening news programme about the Publisher of the Kaieteur News.
Mr. Singh said it is regrettable that the three reporters resigned but the company cannot force any journalist or any other worker to continue working against their will. He said the company fully understands the reason for the resignations although the fact that they came with immediate effect was not welcomed.
Sources close to the News Anchor told News Source that on Tuesday morning she was called into a meeting to discuss her decision to not read the story related to the Kaieteur News publisher on the television newscast. The young lady reportedly provided the reasons for her decision and immediately tendered her resignation after she was told that she should be reading all news scripts provided to her.
The News Editor of the Evening News Michael Younge when questioned about the resignations and the reasons, forwarded all queries to the General Manager of the company.
In an official statement, the three journalists said they “took the stance not to be included in the ongoing personal rhetoric between the Guyana Times’ Dr. Ranjisinghi Ramroop and the KN boss Glen Lall.”
They added that “implicating reporters in the personal vendetta, as is evident, is threatening their personal lives and character.”
According to the three former TVG/Guyana Times reporters, their decision to resign “follows on the heels of their fight to uphold the journalistic principles and ethics that they’ve learnt over the years in the media and through the University of Guyana’s Centre for Communications Studies.”
The Guyana Times and the TVG Evening Newscast have both been carrying a series of reports on the Kaieteur News Publisher including what appears to be full-page advertisements after the Kaieteur News launched a daily expose on the ties between the owner of the Guyana Times and TVG, Bobby Ramroop and former President Bharrat Jagdeo and how that close friendship may have facilitated Ramroop being granted special privileges by the former Jagdeo administration to set up his media companies and buy a multi million dollar industrial complex at a cost that was considered to be far below the market value.
There have been concerns expressed by many of the journalists attached to the Guyana Times/TVG about the reports on the Kaieteur News owner that have been appearing in the daily publication and the reports that they were being given to them to read on the nightly newscast.
News Source understands that a number of reporters at the media outfit continue to express their unease with the reports that would appear in the newspapers and in the TV scripts with the authors not being named.
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