Dear Editor,
A common African idiom for the passing of an elder is ‘A great tree has fallen’. It is a death that represents an irreplaceable loss of history, knowledge and wisdom. This carries the same connotations as, “When an elder dies, a library burns to the ground”.
Stabroek News is both a great tree and a library, its impending closure is a double tragedy and blow to not only journalism & press freedom, but to the important work in does in documenting everyday life going back to Guyana’s post-independent era.
For those who may rejoice at the closure of this historical newspaper; the closure, the burning of a library and the falling of a tree are all metaphors in a poignant exercise to show that losses, while different, can carry similar cultural impacts.
If a library is the soul of a civilization, a historical newspaper could very well be its heartbeat. A library fire robs us of our ancestors’ wisdom and the closure of Stabroek News will rob us of our stories, our history and our own truths as told by those who did the difficult job of documenting & archiving it.
For many involved in Guyanese academia or research, both Stabroek News and its website have been a reliable, independent source of information and analysis, a custodian of Guyanese history in a society with a short collective memory.
While the Stabroek News and its editor referenced the declining print readership and advertising revenue as main contributors of its closure, an independent media house owed $84.4M in ad revenues by anyone would be gasping in an economy like ours. In this case, the systemic withholding of revenues by the state should be seen for what it is, a tool that weakens independent media, marginalizes certain viewpoints and silences criticisms.
Recurrent features like ‘How the cost of living is affecting people,’ ‘Market prices’ or even a random captioned photo painted a picture of everyday life and how things can be better. Stabroek News also provided a platform where Guyanese voices can amplify and be part of social conversations whether it’s through letters or in comments on its digital platforms.
At a time when the Government efforts to preserve culture are unsatisfactory, the loss of Stabroek News is a painful reminder of how fast our history can vanish if we fail to invest in independent institutions that chronicle our triumphs and struggles.
As Stabroek News winds down its operations, I wish the team nothing but the best in their future endeavours with a hope that somehow, the work can continue digitally.