THE government is utterly rejecting media claims by CNS Channel 6 Sharma that, he has been and is being harassed and pressured by government officials to stop airing specific programmes on CNS Channel 6, particularly, Christopher Ram’s “Keeping them Honest”.
A government statement last evening said CNS Channel 6 Sharma’s claims reported in sections of the media since Saturday July 23, made mention of government officials applying pressure on him to stop airing the Christopher Ram hosted programme on his CNS Channel 6. That pressure by government officials, he reported, led him to terminate airing of the television programme.
It must be noted that these claims surfaced in the media at the same time that reports were made of CNS Channel 6 Sharma’s correspondence to the host of “Keeping them Honest” that the station was no longer willing to air the programme.
“The Office of the President reiterates that at no time did any government official approach CNS Channel 6 Sharma on removing any of the weekly broadcast “Keeping them Honest” from his channel,” the statement said.
“The public is aware that CNS Channel 6 Sharma has been again cited by the ACB and his breaches of provisions of broadcast legislation have been drawn to the attention of the Minister of Information, President Bharrat Jagdeo, for subsequent action.
“It is tempting to believe that CNS Channel 6 Sharma made the decision not to air the programme, “Keeping them Honest” any longer, in an attempt to curry-favour with the authorities who are currently examining his many infringements of the law.
“His concurrent public claims of pressure and harassment would then represent an ingenious effort to rationalise and defend his action,” the statement concluded.