The ACB does not issue licences for broadcasting

Dec 11, 2008 Letters

Dear Editor
A report by Gary Eleazar, in the Kaieteur Newspaper on December 9, 2008, indicated that the Alliance For Change (AFC) Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan said that: “President Bharrat Jagdeo should immediately return the authority to issue radio/television licences to the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB)”. This statement by Ramjattan, as reported by Gary Eleazar, is incorrect.

The ACB is an advisory body that monitors programmes. The ACB does not have the power or authority to issue licences for broadcasting.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) dated November 7, 2001, President Jagdeo and Mr. Hoyte accepted the recommendations for amendment to the Wireless Telegraphy Regulations under Section 63 of the Post and Telegraph Act.

These recommendations were made by the Joint Committee on Radio Monopoly, Non-Partisan Boards and Broadcasting Legislation.

The MOU stipulates that the Prime Minister, as the subject minister under this law, will amend the Wireless Telegraphy Regulations to facilitate the establishment of an ACB.

The ACB is expected to advise the minister on the compliance issues by television station licensees on licensing conditions, and to advise the minister on appropriate action in the event of non-compliance with the licensing conditions and other related functions.

The ACB does not issue broadcast licences. It is the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) that issues licences subject to the following terms and conditions, (a) through (h) directly extracted from the NFMU document:

a) “the licensee shall ensure that nothing is included in programmes which offend against good taste or decency, or is likely to encourage or incite racial hatred or incite to crime or to lead to public disorder, or to be offensive to public feeling;

b) the licensee, acting reasonably and in good faith, shall ensure that any news given (in whatever form) in the programmes of the licensee is presented with due accuracy and impartiality;

c) the licensee shall ensure that due impartiality is preserved by the person providing the service in regard to matters of political or industrial controversy, or relating to public policy;

d) the licensee shall ensure that due responsibility is exercised with respect to the content of any religious programmes of the licensee; and that, in particular, any such programme does not involve any abusive or derogatory treatment of the religious views and beliefs of persons belonging to a particular religion or religious denomination;

e) the programmes broadcast by the licensee shall be of the highest possible standard;

f) the licensee shall provide a reasonable opportunity for the public to be exposed to the expression of differing views on matters of public interest;

g) the licensee shall operate the television broadcasting station for which the licence is issued only on the frequencies assigned by the National Frequency Management Unit and only with apparatus approved by the Unit, subject to such other operational conditions and technical standards as may be imposed by the Unit;

h) this is not transferable without the prior consent in writing of the Minister.”

The ACB monitors broadcast programes to ensure compliance with these conditions. That is essentially what the ACB does.

I would like to reiterate that it is the NFMU that issues licences for broadcasting, and not the ACB. And so, to suggest that the President should return the authority to issue broadcast licences to the ACB is fundamentally out of whack.
Prem Misir

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