Based on preliminary media monitoring findings, it is notable that the publicly owned media, which has a larger responsibility to the public than being the mouthpiece of any single administration, failed to live up to the standards they signed up to in the Media Code of Conduct. GTV's news coverage was substantially biased in favour of the incumbent President, Government and governing party. The majority of which was completely uncritical. In comparison, most private broadcasters' newscasts generally offered more balanced coverage of the campaign. Prime News, Capitol News, and Evening News afforded the contestants and their viewers more balanced coverage.
Radio is for many the only source of information.
Under such circumstances GBC as a publicly owned monopoly should have a greater obligation to give its listeners a balanced diet of political information. Our own monitoring indicates that GBC provided their listeners with unbalanced and biased coverage of the campaign in both the time afforded to the contestants and the tone of that coverage. The print media did allow readers a plurality of views in that one could choose between the publicly owned Chronicle and the privately owned Stabroek News. Monitoring revealed that the Stabroek News provided their readers with the most balanced coverage of the campaign out of all media outlets observed. Whilst Talk Shows can offer an opportunity for the expression of diverse ideas, if left without some level of balance, they can mislead, misrepresent and misinform.