Broadcast body looks to citizens to help police airwaves
The Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) is closer to rolling out a robust citizen-monitoring programme which will see members of society effectively monitoring radio and television for offensive output.This is according to the agency’s Chairman Leslie Sobers, who told the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday that the initiative is aimed at allowing citizens to exercise their rights by law.“We’re in the process right now of formulating how that will be done. That’s one of the items the board is discussing and we’re planning around that,” Sobers said, adding: “We’re closer today. In the past it was a mere thought, but now we are trying to operationalise the idea. It’s more than a thought now, it’s a plan and we’re putting that plan together.”
The plan he speaks of is one which, when rolled out in its public awareness campaign, will give individuals or groups the opportunity to volunteer to monitor broadcast transmissions, for transmissions in breach of the country’s Broadcasting Act.“We want to train a cadre of men and women who would voluntarily give us their time listening to the radio, but they would be more in the far-flung areas; and we would ask them to give us the necessary feedback. So, we’re looking at that and thinking about a number of things [such as] how do we compensate them for their time; or whether there should be any compensation at all. We’re working out the modalities,” he said.
Legislation authorises citizens to write the GNBA pointing out any offensive information transmitted on air. Persons making complaints would then be asked to provide the name of the programme, the time it was aired and what offensive matter was broadcast.The GNBA would then take the necessary steps to cross-examine the claim with the records of the broadcaster and their own records for verification, which would be followed by a hearing if the broadcaster is in err.Sobers further explained that the monitoring process is not one which only rests on the backs of citizens, as the GNBA does its part too; and any assistance from citizens will simply boost its mandate.“There’s active monitoring and passive monitoring.
The active monitoring is what we do on a daily basis with our own staff watching television screens or listening to radios.“The passive monitoring is the one where the citizens would call in or write in and that passive monitoring would have itself two aspects which would be the cadre of citizens monitoring and the general public being able to write in. All of that would be regarded as citizen monitoring,” the chairman said.
Altogether, Sobers stated that the initiative will be conducted with the best interest of citizens in mind.He stated: “We want broadcasters to know that the citizens themselves are aware of an arrangement of facilities for them to take objection to what goes on air. Because a lot of times the people who receive the information are just passive recipients of information; and we’re creating now an avenue where they can give this essential feedback.”
Source: Guyana Chronicle
