Irresponsible broadcasters will not go unpunished - GNBA Chairman

Irresponsible broadcasters will not go unpunished – GNBA Chairman

Apr 23, 2017 News

By Abena Rockcliffe- Campbell
Chairman of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) Leslie Sobers is putting Broadcasters on notice that the Authority will not be encouraging the continuous broadcasting of inappropriate content.

GNBA Chairman,
Leslie Sobers

He made this assertion during a recent interview with Kaieteur News. The attorney at law said that broadcasting content will be examined as a prerequisite for relicensing of radio, television and cable stations.
“We are keenly monitoring what is going on the airways. They are some who feel they can play as they please, and say whatever they please on our national airways. They want to air all kinds of videos, some of which are intended to create racial disharmony or others that are corrupting public morals.”
The Chairman said that all infractions are being noted. He said that the Authority is compiling a dossier of the infractions “and when the relicensing period comes we will include that in the decision making process.”
“So you did all of this over the past year and now you are coming to be relicenced? Well we do not think you are a fit and proper person to have a licence in this country anymore.” That is what some broadcasters will be told.”
He continued, “So when you see them masquerading out there and they believe GNBA is doing nothing; they are wrong. We are waiting very quietly, because when the right time comes and we show them the file they cannot deny, because we are recoding what they are saying. It is only a matter of time.”
Recently Kaieteur News published that there are several broadcasters currently operating without valid licences. Sobers was quoted saying that the Authority is looking to arm itself with the relevant legislation to govern the actions that it wants to take.
The Chairman said that the Board continues to work tirelessly to complete regulations to govern the broadcasting industry. He noted that the regulations being worked on are going to become law.
Sobers said that the regulations will set out the terms and conditions under which the Authority will be measuring the eligibility of persons who want to operate in the broadcasting industry, along with that which is situated in the parent Act.
Sobers said that there are currently a number of persons who are operating in the broadcast industry – television, radio and cable – without valid licences. “Their licences have expired because (licences) are issued on an annual basis; so all those Broadcasters who have expired licences will have to reapply.”
Sobers said that when GNBA addresses those broadcasters, the authority will be equipped with the regulations that will be used to measure who should be reissued licences and who should be told no. “You must understand that the guidelines are in the regulations.”
The regulations spoken about by Sobers were touted by the previous GNBA Board which was chaired by Leonard Craig. That Board had claimed that it had completed a draft regulation document that it submitted to the Attorney General’s Office to be fine tuned and eventually gazetted. But nothing ever came out of it.
It is now unclear whether this Board started to draft new regulations or if it is continuing with that which was created by the previous Board. The previous GNBA Board was plagued by discord and as a result accomplished very little or nothing at all. But, the work and expectation of any GNBA is huge.
In what was deemed to be a highly controversial move, former President Bharrat Jagdeo had issued a number of radio licences just days before exiting office. The Board, as promised by the APNU+AFC coalition, was supposed to address those “illegal” licences and regularize the industry.