The Guyana Elections Com-mission’s Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) found that “strong editorial control” was abandoned in the broadcast media in the month leading up to the November 28 polls, which included the violation of the media code by the airing of campaign material the day before the elections.
In its report for the November 1, 2011 to Novem-ber 27, 2011 period, which included an analysis of the elections coverage on CNS Ch 6, WRHM Ch 7, HBTV Ch 9, NCN Ch 11, TVG Ch 28, MTV Ch 65 and NTN 69 and Voice of Guyana (VOG), the MMU was critical of the unedited broadcast of some campaign meetings and rallies.
It pointed out that while political party rallies and meetings would see politicians give in to their “base instincts” and “indulge in anti-social behaviors and language” before a limited audience and within a specific geographical locale, the television rebroadcasts would subject the