The Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) has expressed “grave concern” that the manner in which radio licences in Guyana were recently assigned “poses a real and present danger to freedom of expression in general and press freedom in particular.”
The statement by the ACM yesterday also called for a technical review by a team of independent experts on the potential impact of the frequencies assigned on the operations of prospective licensees as well as an explanation of the process undertaken to grant licences. “The fact that some licences have been awarded in the absence of a regime based on transparency and accountability is regrettable and we insist that even as other applications are being processed, without further delay, a full explanation should be forthcoming regarding the process undertaken to award these licences,” the statement said.
“We also recommend the conduct of a technical review by a team of independent experts on the potential impact of the frequencies assigned to the current crop of concessions on the operations of prospective licensees,” the ACM said adding that the group believes that there is room for “adoption of an acceptable mechanism for taking this matter forward to the satisfaction of all concerned.”
Before leaving office in November 2011, former President Bharrat Jagdeo controversially distributed a number of radio licences as well as frequencies among mainly friends and supporters of the PPP, including Telecor and Cultural Broadcasting Inc, owned by family members of Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud.
Many have come out and denounced the awards, citing the absence of any clear objective criteria in making them as well as the disregard for applications from established media entities. The Guyana Media Proprietors Association has called for a reversal of the decisions, while the Guyana Press Association has expressed concern that the distribution of the licences and frequencies was weighed in favour of friends of the governing party. Broadcaster Enrico Woolford has since filed a lawsuit to squash Jagdeo’s decision arguing that it was unconstitutional.
In its statement, the ACM said that it believes the current unsatisfactory state of affairs can be resolved via a process of dialogue aimed at achieving several short and long-term objectives.
Among these are the establishment of an independent regulatory authority accountable to the people of Guyana through the parliament; the establishment of an appointments process to the Board of the Broadcast Authority based on professional familiarity with the media sector and not on political alignment of any kind; as well as that the governance process for the broadcasting sector should be the responsibility of the Authority, not a government minister or ministry, and should not extend to the Internet.
The ACM also urged that content regulations related to the sector should be clear and unambiguous, be in full compliance with the principle of free expression and designed to satisfy public interest prerogatives as defined under the law and that the process for the granting of licences and concessions should be transparent, fair and equitable and the Authority should be accountable to parliament for its decisions.
The statement noted that Guyana is bound by the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to create the conditions under which freedom of expression is respected and applied by all citizens.
“There is also the globally-accepted commitment to promote the concept of media pluralism as, among other things, a check on the incidence of concentration of media ownership. Under such conditions, all ideas, opinions and other forms of social, political and cultural expression thrive,” the statement said. “Our proposals should, however, not serve as a constraint on the assigning of frequencies to applicants currently in the queue for consideration,” it added.
