WITH the General and Regional Elections just around the corner, the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) will be seeking international assistance to monitor the local airwaves for infractions.

“Many infractions are expected around elections time…so we will be seeking external assistance to monitor the airwaves…international assistance,” said Chairman of the GNBA, Leslie Sobers, during a press briefing on Thursday.

Sobers said the authority has started negotiations with entities from countries such as the United States of America (USA), Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados and Europe.
“We are looking at all the opportunities available and what we could get from those companies,” he said. The GNBA is also engaging the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) and will soon be approaching the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM)’s media monitoring unit when it is established.

“Our country will be moving into a period that has its own excitement and during this time we intend that there should be no misuse of the airways…be assured that defiance and violations will be treated appropriately,” said Sobers in a recent report.

It was also reported that media monitors will be drawn from different age groups, communities and organisations from across the country to aid the GNBA in its efforts to ensure that broadcasters comply with regulations.

“The media monitors will work under the tutelage and guidance of the GNBA,” said GNBA board member, Dr. Rovin Deodat, in a past report.
According to Dr. Deodat, the authority often receives complaints about certain programmes from viewers. In that regard, he said viewers should be able to have a better role to play in ensuring that broadcasters stay in line.

As such, the focus of the new programme will be to ensure that any broadcast of obscene, lewd and distasteful language is reported. The programme is expected to improve the GNBA’s monitoring capacity since the authority has a small core of monitors. The authority had said that its role is not to make life difficult for broadcasters, but to help them achieve a standard that is comparable with or even exceeds international broadcasting standards.