PNC/R slams NCN’s “one-sided” coverage of budget debates

Feb 02, 2022 News

– complains of airtime-blackout of Opposition MPs

Kaieteur News – The Peoples National Congress Reform (PNC/R) has flayed the National Communications Network (NCN) for what it termed its one-sided coverage of the current budget debates, where opposition MPs’ contributions are not covered by the state broadcaster.
In a statement on Tuesday, the PNC/R said numerous fair-minded citizens have alerted the party that the NCN coverage of Monday’s Budget Debate in the National Assembly exclusively focused on the government MPs and did not broadcast any of the speeches of opposition MPs.
“The PNC/R need not re-litigate the well-established position that the State media is not the exclusive mouthpiece of the ruling party. The State media is obligated to also cover the views and activities of the parliamentary opposition in a fair and objective manner. The complaints from citizens yesterday about NCN’s one-sided coverage testify to the fact that ordinary Guyanese expect the management of our State media to rebuff attempts at government control and to perform its duties in a professional manner,” the PNC/R stated.
As such, the PNC/R calls on NCN to provide coverage of the speeches of MPs on both sides to reflect the seat allocation in the National Assembly—starting from today, February 2nd. Ensure such coverage is fair in terms of program schedule, duration, rebroadcasts and relays and inform the nation through a media release that it intends to or has already taken the above actions.
The party said these legitimate demands remain valid regardless of whether NCN is providing full live coverage or selective delayed coverage. The complaint about the state media’s coverage of the opposition has been an age-old problem irrespective of which party is in government.

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