THE recent picketing of the state media entity, the National Communications Network Inc. on October 10 and October 11 by members of the public and headed by activist Christopher Ram must be condemned in all respects to that entity.
Efforts by the public with political backing from opposition political parties seeking to intimidate media workers through the burning of documents and vociferous picketing at a time when elections is just around the corner is not something that should be taken lightly, given the limelight in which it is being held.
What they must understand is that the Guyana Press Association, an independent body, has called for the rights of journalists, regardless of the entities that they work for, to be respected. Throughout the whole episode outside the NCN headquarters the Press Association has remained silent. This warrants cause for concern because only recently at similar outbursts by the opposition parties, the Press Association called on them to respect the rights of journalists.
The recent statements by Lance Carberry stating that NCN is operating as the propaganda arm of government should be debunked in all sectors as it warrants lack of evidence and merit in its entirety. Where is the Press Association now in this? Have they turned a blind eye to these sentiments by a politically infatuated member of the opposition? Why have they called on President Jagdeo to apologise? Haven’t they realised the statements made by Carberry as well?
The media code of conduct states: “In the period after nomination day, the media agrees to make available an equal amount of free space and time for all political parties that have met the legal criteria for contesting national elections. This would amount to a minimum equal allocation of time/space per party of five minutes per week in the case of radio and TV and 200 words per week in the case of print.” What they failed to realise is that NCN has taken the lead in that they have not awaited the day of nomination but rather has gone ahead with the offer to provide the free air time and productions assistance within the confines of the code of conduct to which all media houses are signatories. The measures provided in the code of conduct are all heralded by the media as successful in mitigating violence in order to facilitate free and fair elections.
The initiative undertaken by NCN is in essence an historical one given the policy position that constitutes NCN. Also noted is that there are 17 registered political parties contesting the upcoming elections. Thus, NCN is making available across the board to all 17 parties the five- minute weekly broadcast. Noted also, this is not the only means that these political entities can gain access to the state entity. The company has reviewed the rates for air time for political purposes and as such they have come to a compromise and the rates have been dropped by more than 50 percent in an effort to assist parties to have greater access to air time. This is exclusively in addition to the full coverage already given to parties. The request of APNU for an hour’s air time daily is by and large very unreasonable given the context of the Media Code of Conduct and the amount of contesting parties. As such, it is not commercially feasible for APNU to be granted that concession given that other political parties would also have to be granted that concession. So far, no other station has come on board with this initiative but NCN.
The opposition must also note that the station receives over 90 percent of its revenues through commercial activity and not from the government as mentioned by the opposition.