Dear Editor,
Freddie Kissoon’s column (February 18, 2026), entitled “I have never seen before such scurrilities in a newspaper,” is a classic example of a Stabroek News critic writing with claims that are factually incorrect. Here are two examples of his falsities.
Falsity one: the genocide in Gaza.
Kissoon wrote: “Next is former Guya-nese journalist Dhanraj Bhagwandin, who has lived, like Janet Bulkan, for over 30 years outside. Mr. Bhagwandin claims that the critics of SN lack substance. Here again we see the blatant denial of facts. SN has never featured any story on its foreign news page or local pages on Israel’s genocide in Gaza.” It is Mr. Kissoon’s own statement that lacks facts and substance. The reference to those living overseas is simply an irrelevant filler.
On the more substantive point, a simple Google search or the use of AI tools will reveal that Stabroek News has featured the Gaza topic more than ten times. On August 29, 2025, for example, Stabroek News published a Reuters’ article entitled “Hundreds of UN staff pressure rights chief to call Gaza a genocide, letter shows.”
Falsity number two.
According to Mr. Kissoon, “…since August 2020, there has not been one editorial, right up to February 17 (today), that carried a positive comment on the President, any of his ministers, or the collective government.” Here again Mr. Kissoon ignores the truth, as Stabroek News has written articles in favour of the government many times. In an August 3, 2024 editorial, for example, Stabroek wrote: “The developing of 35,000 house lots and the building of 3,000 houses – some given to vulnerable families – is a great achievement for any government and President Ali’s administration should be given full credit.”
Mr. Kissoon’s column on this occasion reflects a paucity of any meaningful content analysis of Stabroek News and a lack of the academic rigor expected from someone who is an academic.