The Coil: Behind the headlines

by award winning heritage journalist Vidyaratha Kissoon 

The young reporter was hustling to get into parliament about ninety minutes or so before the official start. “I have to get my seat… if we go late the seat would be taken.” I asked him, “Man, what about your own writing, how can you guys keep writing that crap that comes from there?” And he said “We have to report… but today is the last day.”

A young man smoking a cigarette on Camp Street said he wants to filter his news because he feeling depressed about the way the whole Parliament debate has been going and wondering whether things will go forward in the country. He was not impressed  by my pleas to smoke local ganja instead of foreign tobacco. Another young man posted on his Facebook about a “A house filled with Hate, bitterness, revenge, rage, resentment, acrimony, antagonism and hostility.”  Other people have no problems or probably are not bothering.

At the National Stakeholder Conference on Suicide, a young woman talked about the need for skilled mental health professionals, and a woman from America said that yes, people would like to come but in addition to the low pay, “when people see what is happening in Guyana” they don’t want to come.
And people mutter yes, yes the media.  A young man who was reporting on the conference said he normally did the crime beat. I tried to ask about following up on crime stories and see if there was any nice slant to put on what happens after the crime happens.  He said that sometimes it is difficult as there might be no follow up.

Most of the Guyana writing is in the work of journalists and reporters. There are probably reasons since writing Guyana probably does not have much money anywhere else maybe except in Travel magazines.  Is there a mental toll on those who have to keep reporting on cuss down and cuss out and crime?

Do crime or political reporters in Guyana ever get a chance to cover topics such as fashion or food or music to ensure they keep their balance?

One man who dabbles in journalism said he felt sick about seeing Jagdeo back in parliament and did not feel to do much more dabbling for a few days which could be a long time in journalism. It is true that the reporters from the parliament are not responsible for the possibility of headlines like “MPs walk out when bheri and anil got up to speak’ or “MPs start chanting no no no when bheri and anil get up to speak” or “Opposition apologises to Speaker and walks out of parliament early Friday night to beat the 2 am closing time”

Maybe the MPs are reconciling and the contempt for women is not a big deal any more. So the headline “MPs forgive bheri and listen to him speak in Parliament” might have been the uplifting one for some people.

Saraswati Vidya Niketan  came in the news last year for a case of suicide,  around the time when the school was involved in public education efforts about suicide prevention. The suicide case was reported in depth, much more than another suicide for the year.  Other schools whose students died from suicide fortunately did not have to through similar attention and implications of failure to do justice to their students.
This year, Saraswati Vidya Niketan was in the headlines for getting the top students at CSEC . There were other possible stories though, as hinted at in this report from Kaiteur News, where the principal, Swami Aksharananda “ made reference to one student who secured 13 grade one passes this year who had left primary level school with a score that qualified for a community high level school.” 

There is no headline (and there are probably reasons for this) about “Guyanese school moves a
student from low Common entrance grades to 13 grade Ones”. This story/headline, while not bringing people back from America, might have have been a story which other parents,teachers and students might want to know about  and which might show that in addition to the high drop out rates, and the illiteracy, that there are possibilities of fixing some of the problems right here and that there are probably many students who moved through from low common entrance grades for schools where one Headmaster had told me of his students (they will drop out, there is not much in store for them really) to passing exams.

Who is responsible for the stories which come from Guyana? Who tells the stories of a sweet soursop with endless juice or vegetables that are fresh and taste good, along with the stories of the murder and attacks on the people who grow and bring these fruits and vegetables to market? Or of a coconut water man taking 140 for one coconut and then , after taking out the change and talking about Allah, says.. let me find another one for that fine change? ($60)

Who is responsible for telling the story of suicide, which is not about the statistics of those completed but about those who survived or like the story of the former 17-year-old girl whose father told her ‘better you had dead’ but who managed to complete her education and wants to find ways to help others as she deals with her own mental health?

While the media does its work, how do we get people to tell their stories of living in this place which might have those who read the media and not want to come here think that okay, it might be still worth while coming here even if they might be killed or robbed in vicious ways?