Press Release- GNBA Monitoring & Compliance Department Fully Operational
One of the major functions of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) is to ensure that broadcasters comply with the Broadcasting Act, 2011 and its 2017 Amendment. This function is actively undertaken by the GNBA’s Broadcast Monitoring and Compliance Department which is now fully operational. This Department serves to critically analyse broadcast content. It is also responsible for archiving content aired by local radio and television stations in keeping with the Act and Amendment as well as the Guidelines for Broadcasters established by the Authority. Members of the broadcasting sector and other Stakeholders are reminded that these may be accessed on the website gnba.gov.gy.
The Department comprises a full complement of staff, trained and equipped as Broadcast Monitoring and Compliance Officers. Its core objective is ensuring that broadcasters adhere to legal and other obligations under the law. Specifically, the Department monitors and identifies all content contravening the Act, Amendment and Guidelines. These include news reporting with close-ups of serious injuries; undignified images of the dead, those suffering or in distress; footage of persons in emergency situations, indecency, racial, ethnic or other forms of incitement, religious or sectional hatred and disaffection in programmes. Where hosts of call-in programmes do not disconnect callers or disclaim statement(s) which contain indecent, racial, ethnic, religious or sectional hatred and disaffection, an infraction occurs.
The Department also monitors political broadcasts that are abusive or derogatory to race, colour, creed, religion or gender. Included for monitoring is suicide and self-harm presented as acceptable solutions or presenting domestic violence as desirable and acceptable. Advertisements transmitted during children’s programmes such as alcoholic drinks or trailers of films with adult content are strictly monitored including promoting public events containing explicit sexual overtures or exposing children to danger.
The Monitoring and Compliance Department is currently using a Colour Code to categorize infractions.
Yellow: minor infraction which can be easily rectified.
Orange: infraction with significant impact and effect and which is not easily rectifiable.
Red: fundamental breach of the Broadcast Licence, the Act, the Amendment or any combination.
The Department forwards infractions to the Monitoring and Compliance Committee of the GNBA which advises the Board of such infractions and procedures for dealing with them.
According to section 38 (2) of the Act “Licensees are required to retain, for a period not exceeding five years, a recording of every programme included in the licensed service and are required to produce at the request of the Authority, any such recording for examination or reproduction.”
The Authority, through its Monitoring and Compliance Department, looks forward to a harmonious working relationship with all stakeholders as it endeavours to improve the standard of broadcast content across Guyana in compliance with the Act, Amendment and the Guidelines.
