THE opposition political parties continue to bombard the state media entity, the National Communications Network Inc. (NCN), over political airtime being offered during the campaign season. This unwarranted attack continues to be a major issue in some sections of opposition media reports. These efforts by the opposition must be condemned in all respects as they can have a significant impact on general and regional elections which are just about a month away.
Within the last few weeks, activist and staunch critic of the government, Christopher Ram, has led members of the opposition in vociferous picketing, seeking to intimidate media operatives of the state entity through the burning of documents among other activities deemed as a hindrance to the smooth flow of operations. Throughout the whole proceedings, the Guyana Press Association (GPA) has remained silent, despite the threat posed by these activities. This warrants grave concern, as it is seemingly a clear bias on the part of the GPA. Only recently, the association called on President Bharrat Jagdeo to rescind statements he made at a campaign rally.
It is clear to the general public that it is with utter disgust that one reads/hears of the opposition entities’ maligned attacks on the state entity. It is clearly stated in the Media Code of Conduct that: “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 5 minutes per week in the case of radio and TV, and 200 words per week in the case of print.”
So far, only the state media, NCN, has taken upon itself to offer the political parties the mandated free airtime. It is interesting to note that NCN can come under such attacks, when no other media entity has come on board although they are signatories to the Media Code of Conduct document.
What is also a point to note is that the Alliance For Change (AFC) has taken the chance so far. However, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has not taken the initiative lightly, as they are calling for a free hour of airtime. The initiative undertaken by NCN is in essence a historical one, given the policy position at NCN. Given the fact that 32 political parties have registered, NCN is making available across the board to all parties the five- minute weekly broadcast. In its press release, NCN has pointed out that this is not the only means available for political entities to gain access to the state entity. In response to concerns raised with management, the station has reviewed the rates for airtime for political purposes, and these have been reduced by more than 50 per cent in an effort to assist parties to have greater access to airtime. This is in addition to the full coverage already given to parties in the news and current affairs programming. In view of the above, the request by APNU for an hour of airtime daily is clearly unreasonable, and was made to intimidate rather than to resolve the issue of greater access, given the context of the Media Code of Conduct and the amount of contesting parties. APNU have failed to realise that they have paid hundreds of thousands to create their jingle from a $1.2 billion campaign budget, while they are complaining about the heavily reduced rates from NCN. 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 recent statements by Lance Carberry can only be interpreted as an attempt to cloud the issue with innuendo, and this flies in the face of the facts. The fact is that the five-minute airtime which Carberry considers an insult was available to all political parties since the days of GTV and GBC. This facility was acceptable to all political parties in the 2001 and 2006 elections, and is currently being accessed by other political parties as they work towards the 2011 elections. In fact, the Medial Code of Conduct was written to incorporate NCN’s policy of free airtime; and, as noted above, is generally acknowledged as one of the measures which resulted in peaceful elections in 2006. While the state media belong to the people of Guyana, they are also commercial entities which receive over 90 per cent of their revenues through commercial activities and the other 10 per cent of their current budget is funded by an annual government subvention. The station is also the outlet for prominently labelled GINA programmes which clearly denote the government in a positive light due to the number of positive developmental issues highlighted.
The activities of this dissident group and the opposition against the very entity which provides them with the largest block of coverage of their elections campaigns, from their rallies to their manifestos, can only result in intimidation of the people whom they will have to rely on to get their stories out. This is not the way to encourage those people to go beyond the call of duty.