Liberalising private broadcasting

Aug 19, 2010 Editorial

With all the problems around it would seem that the political leaders simply opt to move from one bad situation to another. It is as if there is not just enough that needs to be done. We simply cannot seem to be worried that the roads are not in the best shape, that the garbage piles in the city keep growing higher and higher because the people simply could not be bothered about garbage; that the country’s largest landfill site has broken all records for a facility of that sort but is still being used.
Recently, a letter-writer and the owner of a television station combined to get the head of state to order the state-owned television station to refrain from broadcasting on a new frequency. And of course, there is the tongue-in-cheek statement from a so-called government spokesperson that penalties may visit some of those who initiated the broadcast on the new frequency.
Almost a decade ago, this problem of increased spectrum surfaced. President Bharrat Jagdeo and Desmond Hoyte sat down to forego the granting of any new broadcast licence until the spectrum could be regularized. The two men set up a commission that should have spent one year examining the issue and coming up with a resolution.
As it turned out, the situation remains. The country still has one radio station despite a more recent court order. The government allowed itself to expand its television broadcast and of course, Prime Minister Sam Hinds justified this action on the ground that the government needed to get its information across the country.
This is, of course, arrogance of the highest order. Information dissemination is not the prerogative of any government .Some who decided to challenge the situation, among them Anthony Vieira (who has since relinquished all claims to broadcasting), one broadcaster in Berbice, and Mark Benschop got their equipment seized. Vieira moved to the courts but it was not until he had sold the rights to his broadcast channels that the courts ruled that he had a right to a radio station. The government cannot decide whether Benschop ever committed a crime.
For the government-owned television station to expand its broadcast without the agreement negotiated almost a decade ago, smacks of crass disrespect for the people, and President Bharrat Jagdeo must have been one embarrassed person for him to intervene.
What is the fear of private radio stations or private communication networks? Prime Minister Hinds said that the government-owned station is in no position to compete with a private broadcaster so the best thing is to avoid any competition. The result is that Guyana is the only country in the region, and probably the whole world, with one radio station.
If it is that these private entities are going to ask more questions of the government and challenge certain concessions then that is the essence of democracy. It is always better for people to make their views known, publicly, than to harbour disgruntled sentiments thus creating an undercurrent.
Indeed, the television spectrum is crowded beyond imagination. Not one of these stations produce anything; they simply operate a camera at a public event and rebroadcast that event with precious little editing; they all compete for a share of the same advertising market—even the government-owned station which enjoys a government subvention—and on more than one occasion many of them could be seen broadcasting the same pirated signal at the same time.
The government, however, collects revenue from these stations and gives them nothing in return. These stations give nothing to the society. Instead, they sublet some of the purchased space to independent producers and give these producers nothing in return and when all is said and done the society is saddled with mediocrity and is none the wiser that better should be offered. The government has created this situation.
The time has come for the government to cease the procrastination with the broadcast spectrum. It had promised broadcast legislation a long time ago, but there is no move to arrive at consensus with the broadcasters, and certainly no move to table any such legislation. The result is that there will always be efforts to circumvent existing legislation as is being done with internet radio, or to simply challenge the administration.

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Liberalising private broadcasting

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