- focus on Georgetown conference
A CARIBBEAN MEDIA and Communications Conference is currently taking place in Guyana to coincide with this year’s observance of “World Press Freedom Day”–May 3

Funded by UNESCO and involving national/regional media managers and practitioners, as well as members of the academic community, the conference got underway in Georgetown yesterday (Thursday) and is scheduled to end tomorrow (Saturday).

One of the highlights of the conference is expected to be an overview of the state of media freedom in the region and focused on Caribbean Community partner states.

Except for occasional pockets of media/government conflicts in a few member states, our Community boasts a generally healthy reputation for press freedom.

This perception is shared by Secretary General of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), Patrick Cozier, with whom I spoke earlier in the week, when we discussed the proliferation of radio and television stations and cable operators and wondered whether “more” has really translated to “better”. It’s an ongoing debate.

In relation to the few cases of government media conflicts of recent vintage, these would include developments in Guyana, Grenada and Dominica. Jamaica had a different kind of controversy last month–one resulting from threatened sanctions by the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica (BCJ) against “News Talk 93 FM” for violating the terms of its broadcast licence.

Suspension was avoided by the station’s expression of regret and, more importantly, its moving expeditiously to ensure relevant internal control mechanisms are in place for call-in programmes.

In the case of Guyana, where CNS Channel 6 broadcast licence has been suspended for four months by President Bharrat Jagdeo, the hope is that the government will reconsider its harsh penalty and significantly reduce the suspension.

Those in and out of the Guyanese media sector genuinely interested in helping Chandra Narine Sharma–businessman, maverick politician and operator of CNS Channel 6 television–should perhaps take the opportunity of the current Media and Communications Conference to find a path of compromise instead of confrontation.

Resolution of the dispute involving “News Talk 93 FM” and the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica seems to offer an example for resolution. Anyone, friend of Sharma, or foe of the Jagdeo administration, who really believes that although it originally acknowledged violation of its broadcast licence, then to repeat the offence (a criminal threat) on three subsequent broadcasts, the station should be spared from any form of sanction, cannot be taken seriously. Freedom without responsibility is a dangerous route

President Jagdeo should, however, indicate willingness for a compromise resolution once Sharma comes forward with a practical approach that reveals both regret for the offensive broadcast and willingness to have in place required internal control mechanisms to avoid a recurrence of the crude violations.

Having finally authorised the resumption of public sector advertisements to the Stabroek News–the suspension of which, in my judgement, should not have been imposed in the first place–President Jagdeo should not now close the door to a reasonable compromise for CNS Channel 6, although it is quite a different case to that of the advertisement controversy involving a privately owned newspaper.

Since the collapse, some 16 years ago, of the Caribbean Publishing and Broadcasting Association (CPBA), a once high profile media owners body, and the earlier death of what existed as an independent and respected Caribbean Press Council (CPC), the region’s need for critical re-assessment of how to collectively enable a more responsible environment for defending and sustaining freedom of media and freedom of expression now appears all the more urgent.
(Courtesy, Barbados Weekend Nation’s “Our Caribbean” column)