Board Chairman Leslie Sobers yesterday maintained that the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) did not willfully deny Guyana Publications Incorporated (GPI), the publisher of the Stabroek News and Sunday Stabroek, a radio licence, while noting that the company only became fully compliant in October last year, by which time all the primary zone frequencies were already allocated.
“I want to, upfront, deny what seems to be an allegation and to reiterate that at the GNBA we operate at a professional level and we would not purposefully exclude anyone from obtaining a licence to broadcast. The electro-magnetic spectrum belongs to Guyanese. We are merely caretakers of it. We are merely regulators of it to ensure that our people benefit from it in every way possible and the best way possible,” Sobers told a press conference hosted at the GNBA’s headquarters.
The news conference was called in response to a report published by Sunday Stabroek on June 16th, under the headline “Stabroek News’ publisher sees unfair treatment in denial of radio licence.” In the report, GPI General Manager Shaleeza Khan said the company had been treated unfairly by the GNBA in the denial of its application for a primary zone radio licence.