President says Sharma suggested two-month ban, his wife suggested four
…declares ‘zero tolerance’ of religious disparagement
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday cleared the air on the banning for four months of CNS Television Channel 6, saying it had nothing to do with Sharma – the individual, and that his wife and programme manager, Savitree Singh, had asked that the penalty be reduced to ‘four months’ at the meeting he had with the couple on Friday. The President also made it very clear that it was not a political decision, as some critics and opposition elements are suggesting, but a decision that arose from recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB).
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr. Jagdeo told reporters the ACB had recommended that CNS TV6 be suspended “for at least six months” and he was in receipt of that recommendation since June despite Sharma’s move to the court to block him from receiving it.
The suspension stemmed from the broadcasting of a commentary by Tony Vieira in which he made disparaging remarks about the religious community and Bishop Juan Edghill, who has since sued him and the television station. The ACB became involved as it constituted a broadcasting breach.

RECOMMENDATION
President Jagdeo, in giving a brief synopsis of the events leading to the suspension, noted that a complaint was filed by Edghill to the ACB, which at that time was made up of the Chairman Evan Persaud (representing Government), the nominee of the Leader of the Opposition Ron Case, and the private sector nominee Norman McLean.

QUOTE: “The boundaries that we shall not cross in these elections are race and religion. People’s race and religion are sacred. Every decent-minded Guyanese, regardless of whether you like the Government or not, you should be intolerant to any attempt to use race and religion and I hope that we could count on all Guyanese for this…These things harmed our country in almost irreparable ways in the past. We have to ensure that this does not happen in the future.” –  President Jagdeo

The President said these are the three persons who looked at this issue, and later provided him with their consideration and conclusion of the complaints about CNS Channel 6’s airing of Mr. Vieira’s commentary.

Mr. Jagdeo said the ACB’s finding constitutes offences against the Constitution, the Laws of Guyana and Sharma’s television  licence.

“The (ACB) considered the matter and they recommended that Sharma be suspended for at least six months. They took into consideration that there were three other transgressions of a similar nature,” the President told reporters, adding that there was a progression in the transgressions and hence he was sanctioned for one day, then for one week and then for four months.

QUOTE: “I did not initiate this matter. It was initiated separately. I made it clear to Sharma that this went beyond Edghill. It was the content of the broadcast that was reprehensible. The content was intended to incite religious intolerance and disparage religions values in this country, which is reprehensible to our Constitution, the Laws of Guyana and, more particularly, to the licence.” President Jagdeo

“When the ACB sent their recommendation to me, Sharma went to the Court in June to prevent the ACB from having the recommendation come to me. Eventually, that injunction was lifted and I got the copy of the recommendation. A few weeks later, I invited Sharma in. At that meeting I made it public what he said, that he admitted that he [committed] an infringement of the licence, that he was sorry and that he had made a mistake and that they mixed up the tape and showed this,” the President said.

REGULATORY BAN
“So I said to him that I will take into consideration all the issues you raised and meet you back. I travelled a bit and then I called Sharma. I said I would write him but I did not. He came to see me with Savitree [Singh] and I said to him that, based on the recommendations of the ACB, I was inclined to suspend him for eight months.
“They (Sharma and his wife) started going on about the business and that they had loans to pay and a whole range of things. So I said to Sharma, in the presence of Dr. Roger Luncheon, do you think that I should do nothing about this, because this is a regulatory issue. This has nothing to do with Sharma – the individual,” the President said.

“I did not initiate this matter. It was initiated separately. I made it clear to Sharma that this went beyond Edghill. It was the content of the broadcast that was reprehensible. The content was intended to incite religious intolerance and disparage religions values in this country, which is reprehensible to our Constitution, the Laws of Guyana and, more particularly, to the licence,” the President said.

ZERO TOLERANCE
“I made it clear, I am not tolerating any attempt to divide our people [using] race or religion, election season or no election season,” Mr. Jagdeo declared.
“That was the crux of the matter. That’s why they recommended [a minimum of] six months. I explained this to Sharma over and over and over…that it had nothing to do with Edghill and apologising to Edghill. So I said to him, ‘do you think you should avoid sanction?’ ‘What do you think is reasonable?’ Savitree Sharma said four months. CN Sharma then said two months. I said give me a few minutes and they exited the room, and came back in, Then I said I will accede to your request to reduce it,” the President related.

According to Mr. Jagdeo, the couple then said they needed time from Friday last to wrap up their affairs and he said this would be given.

“Then I saw over the weekend they mounted a campaign. It is totally unethical of them. They left my office asking for four months, that they needed time to wrap up their affairs then, over the weekend, they started getting all of these fringe elements, Christopher Ram and others who like the sound of their voice,” he said.

“The boundaries that we shall not cross in these elections are race and religion. People’s race and religion are sacred. Every decent-minded Guyanese, regardless of whether you like the Government or not, you should be intolerant to any attempt to use race and religion and I hope that we could count on all Guyanese for this,” he said. “These things harmed our country in almost irreparable ways in the past. We have to ensure that this does not happen in the future,” the President said.

SUSPENSION NOT PREMEDITATED
Asked about the timing of the sanctions, the President said, “It had nothing to do with elections. You saw the progression in time. If I had [given Sharma] an eight-month suspension four months ago, when it came to me, it would [have] still been the same issue. It would have been longer than what I am doing now and it would not have been an issue of timing. This never entered my head.
President Jagdeo also lashed out at Opposition party members for lending their support to Sharma without paying attention to the severity of the infringement.

“They should have been on my side in this matter because we need to send strong signals to those who try to stir up problems among our religious leaders, between faiths and within the faiths. This country suffered too much,” he said.

Meanwhile, international press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders has reportedly condemned President Jagdeo’s suspension of CNS TV6 ahead of the upcoming elections, calling it an appalling move.
“The presidential order is all the more reprehensible for forcing the station off the air during the run-up to regional and general elections that must be held by 28 December,” the group is reported by the online ‘demwaves.com’ to have said in a ‘release’ yesterday, a copy of which was not seen, nor sent to this newspaper.
It added that the suspension is “both discriminatory and absurd.”
“The fact that the station is owned by Chandra Narine Sharma, the leader of the opposition Justice for All Party, is a further reason for seeing it as an attack on pluralism and democratic debate,” the France-based NGO is reported to have said.
It should be noted that the same Reporters Without Borders had thrown  its committed support behind Radio Rwanda journalist Dominique Makeli who was prosecuted for genocide and crimes against humanity.

“The Rwandan journalist was convicted of spreading racial discord and race hate that resulted in the death of many persons….here in Guyana, Reporters Without Borders is also attempting to support a television station that has contravened the Laws of Guyana by broadcasting offending material that is against good taste or decency, and which can encourage or incite religious and racial hatred,” one observer commented.
“Any comments emanating from this so-called press freedom watchdog body should be ignored…,” another observer commented.

The President’s letter to CNS Channel 6 owner CN Sharma and his wife Savitree Singh dated September 30, 2011 said that the station’s airing of a commentary contravened Regulation 23A of the Guyana Postal and Telegraph Act Chapter 47.01, Laws of Guyana.

CNS TV6 went off air at 6 PM on Monday and the opposition parties and civil society groups have since come together to hold a vigil outside the station’s Robb and Wellington Streets location with several other activities  reportedly planned for this week.