GNBA 5th Stakeholder Engagement- Chairman’s Opening Presentation
Thank you Mr. Moderator, Members of the Governing Board of the GNBA, Management and Staff of GNBA, Broadcasters, other invited members of the media.
Welcome to our concluding Broadcasters’ Engagement for 2019, we have had a fruitful year and I trust that a considerable amount, if not all of, your expectations were met at this end we strove assiduously to fulfill our mandate and though we realize we cannot do it all at one go, we have strategized how we had intended to achieve our objectives during this year and how we will proceed in the year ahead.
I take this opportunity to extend Seasons Greetings to your good selves and families and wish that the spirit and joy of this season be with you throughout the year ahead. This year ushered in the aftershock of the previous year’s political maneuvers and the Broadcast Authority could not have avoided being in the path of the path of the consequential waves and ripples.
However, being supported by a staff that focused on their professional and fiduciary responsibilities to our Broadcasters over and above their private affiliations and avocations, we were able to demonstrate our strength of character and professional resilience to the vicissitudes and trying circumstances of the past year. I take this opportunity to publicly salute the Management and Staff of GNBA for their dedication, commitment and hard work during this year
HIGHLIGHTS OF ACHIEVEMENTS
During this year we were able to operationalize our Strategic Plan and in so doing realized some achievements.
- We have had regular Stakeholder Engagements, in keeping with our promise to create an avenue for dialogue
- We have rendered our self-more open to questions from the media and have also held a few Press Briefings.
- Our staff were exposed to more in-house training in communications and analysis to strengthen their ability to spot infractions even from the angle of innuendos. As a result we have been able to detect several infractions and took appropriate action.
- We strove to maintain a consultative and persuasive approach to dealing with delinquency and non-compliance nonetheless we have had to take Legal Action against some Delinquent Broadcasters and at least one operative bent on illegally using prohibited frequencies.
Frequencies are allocated to separate sectors e.g. the military, maritime, aviation, telecommunications operate on specially assigned bands and frequencies Radio and television also have their own assigned bands and frequencies so that a Broadcaster cannot expect to be allowed to unlawfully utilize frequencies assigned to other sectors. Once the Broadcast Authority becomes aware of such an endeavor we would revoke that Broadcaster’s Licence or refuse to issue any future licence.
- I am pleased to announce that GNBA is fully Audited up to December 31, 2018 and will shortly be preparing to have the Authority Audit ready for 2019
- Our Citizen Monitoring Programme was recently introduced on a more formal platform, so that our citizens will be able to lodge their complaints in a structured manner and also thereby be able to play their part in shaping our Broadcasting landscape.
AREAS OF POSITIVE COLLABORATION
I am delighted to report that during this year GNBA fostered positive relations with Broadcasters and other stakeholders and was able to enjoyed positive collaboration.
In this regard we held several meetings between our Special Investigative Committee and Broadcasters concerning reported infractions. We have had also heartening reactions from the listening public in terms of their preferences; and though this was not scientifically assessed the feedback from members of the public seemed to suggest that Broadcasters are not fully aware of their audience listening and viewing preferences. I personally have received several complaints from persons of all walks of life against certain Broadcasters. The areas of concern were those Broadcasters departure from good taste, their apparent penchant for airing lewd music, imitating foreign accents, DJ’s sounding like ‘wanna be’ Jamaicans, Announcers sounding like ‘wanna be’ Americans, nudity, vulgar language and the list goes on. It was only yesterday in a bank that a citizen broached the same conversation with me asking how we could condone a particular radio station that insists on playing lewd songs.
In order to counter any misconception on the part of Broadcasters that they are catering for the preferences of a majority of their perceived target audience, we will be conducting audience surveys and will publish the results. We have said this before and we urge you to take it seriously. Sponsors love numbers and would want to know who has wider listenership and viewership, and whose programming is preferred and whose attract public angst or perturbation.
NON-COMPLIANCE
We have, despite our efforts, still recorded several infractions, nonetheless we are committed to patiently renewing our efforts to persuade Broadcasters to adopt a more responsible stance. The effrontery of Broadcasters who have pledged to remain defiant, are not harming the GNBA. In fact they are harming the very audience to which, they believe, they cater. For sure they are casting doubt as to their fitness and properness to be holders of Broadcasters Licences.
“ A hint to Quashiba mek Beniba tek notice”
FAILURE TO BROADCAST THROUGHOUT ZONE
At this point it behooves me to remind Broadcasters that Guyana’s broadcasting landscape is rooted in the doctrine of pluralism. The legal framework for broadcasting commands that Broadcasting be conducted on the principles of Freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 146 of the Constitution of Guyana. Freedom of expression not only allow for unhindered dissemination of opinions and facts and so on but also the unimpeded reception of the information being disseminated. It is upon this basis that a Broadcasting Licence is issued. It is a reasonable and legitimate expectation that a Broadcaster having secured a licence to broadcast in a particular zone and having satisfied the requirements that he or she is capable of transmitting within that particular zone would ensure that his or her operations spans the length and breadth of that zone.
Section 32 (h) set out as follows:
“In the granting of licences and in the setting of conditions, the Authority shall ensure that all equipment for transmission, dissemination or distribution of programmes by wired, wireless, cable or any other means should meet a technical standard which ensures that listeners and viewers within the prescribed coverage area are able to receive signals with reasonable ease, minimum difficulty and maximum clarity;”
Therefore if a Broadcaster fails to meet this standard he or she fails to fulfill a fundamental condition of their Broadcasting Licence. We have observed that several Broadcasters have failed to maximize their coverage of the zones in which they operate that means only some persons are being catered for. This failure by a Broadcaster upon whom trust was reposed by being granted a Licence to Broadcast throughout the length and breadth of a particular zone is in itself a violation of the constitutional freedom of expression. This condition will be receiving our careful attention.
FORECASTING 2020
The year ahead will usher in a period of excitement Guyana is poised to realize economic growth beyond our past experience and perhaps expectations. The quest to have a share of the political pie has already revealed a number of likely participants. We therefore urge Broadcasters to act professionally and to ensure that your programmes and programming are fair and equitable to all stakeholders. Our Broadcasting Act has an inherent Fairness Doctrine which forms part of the conditions of the Broadcast Licence. We will be holding our Broadcasters to those standards and conditions. From now until March 2020 our immediate focus will be on Broadcasters conduct during the run up to Elections. We will continue to advocate for Responsible and fair coverage.
Our Post Elections Focus will be on continued Citizen Monitoring, the development of Community Radio, Sectoral Needs Analysis and assessment of Training Needs. In this regard we will be ( and have actually started ) looking towards post graduate level exposure and training of persons in Broadcasting. In this regard we have initiated discussion with a Professor Emeritus of Ohio University in the USA. We will be working on capacity building in the areas of public awareness and education, audience research, information storage, and retrieval. Towards this end during last week we had a week long engagement with a UNESCO Consultant.
PROVOCATIVE THOUGHTS
- Redefine the zones by dividing them into sub zones
- Issue Licences for the sub-zones at a a lower cost and confine the broadcast reach to a smaller geographic space
- Amend the Law to allow community radio to operate in the Primary zone to fill the gap of the inability of Broadcasters to reach the full length and breadth of the Primary Zone, in that case we could see community radios existing in places like Timehri, Vergenoegen, Mahaicony, and so on.
CONCLUSION
At GNBA we remain committed to the development of Broadcasting in Guyana we urge the utilization of more local content, the provision of access to information by persons with disabilities, in the first instance persons with hearing impairment, a reassessment of programming to encourage local talent in song, literature, in total the visual and performing arts, propagation of our local and indigenous culture. We urge you and we are prepared to work with you in looking inwards, to focus our youth’s attention on who we are, our life style our cultural capital. Guyana is still waiting to be discovered and it would be a shame should we remain asleep while others to skillfully wrest from our grasp the very essence of our being and monetize it for themselves.
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