The Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) yesterday said that its monitoring and compliance department is fully functional.
A release from the GNBA said that the department serves to critically analyse broadcast content. It is also responsible for archiving content broadcast by local radio and television stations in keeping with the Act of 2011 and its 2017 Amendment as well as the Guidelines for Broadcasters established by the Authority. Operators in the broadcasting sector and other stakeholders are reminded that these may be accessed on the website gnba.gov.gy.
The release said that the department boasts a full complement of staff, trained and equipped as Broadcast Monitoring and Compliance Officers. The department’s core objective is ensuring that broadcasters adhere to legal and other obligations under the law. The department monitors and identifies all content contravening the Act, Amendment and Guidelines.
“These include news reporting with close-ups of serious injuries; undignified images of the dead, those suffering or in distress; footage of persons in emergency situations, indecency, racial, ethnic or other forms of incitement, religious or sectional hatred and disaffection in programmes. Where hosts of call-in programmes do not disconnect callers or disclaim statement(s) which contain indecent, racial, ethnic, religious or sectional hatred and disaffection, an infraction occurs.
The Department also monitors political broadcasts that are abusive or derogatory to race, colour, creed, religion or gender. Included for monitoring is suicide and self-harm presented as acceptable solutions or presenting domestic violence as desirable and acceptable. Advertisements transmitted during children’s programmes such as alcoholic drinks or trailers of films with adult content are strictly monitored including promoting public events containing explicit sexual overtures or exposing children to danger”, the statement said.
The GNBA said its Monitoring and Compliance Department is currently using a Colour Code to categorize infractions.
Yellow: refers to minor infraction which can be easily rectified.
Orange: relates to an infraction with significant impact and effect and which is not easily rectifiable.
Red: pertains to a fundamental breach of the Broadcast Licence, the Act, the Amendment or any combination.
The department forwards infractions to the Monitoring and Compliance Committee of the GNBA which advises the Board on dealing with them.
According to section 38 (2) of the Act “Licensees are required to retain, for a period not exceeding five years, a recording of every programme included in the licensed service and are required to produce at the request of the Authority, any such recording for examination or reproduction.”
