The process recently used to allocate radio licences is “unworkable” the Guyana Media Proprietors Association (GMPA) has said while expressing concern about the absence of transparency.
The association is calling on the administration to make public the criteria used to determine the recipients of the licences. Government recently announced the allocation of radio licences for several entities and the GMPA in a statement last week said that while it greeted the news with a deep sense of hopefulness, there was also a feeling of “great ambivalence, apprehension, and major dissatisfactions.”
“Our elation, that the unnecessarily prolonged Radio monopoly maintained by the Government is finally ending, is tempered and diminished by both the absence of transparency in the licence granting process and an obscurity in respect to any structured approach to the media licences allocation,” the entity explained. “We continue to view with consternation the unacceptable practice of the Office of the President solely discharging that function of administering the granting of licences and we are aware of the discontent that ensues,” the statement said while emphasizing that the GMPA’s opposition to the manner in which the matter was discharged is not related to personalities.
“However, since the office of the Presidency is attained and occupied through a political process it is not unreasonable to believe that Presidents can act in ways that promote partisan political advantage.
Therefore the granting of right of Media to operate in our society must by all means be insulated from the appearance and possibility of political manoeuvrings. The transparent process must be open to public scrutiny thereby isolating it from suspicions or accusations of the imposition of political obligations which definitely impede media playing their parts in the deepening of our fragile democracy,” the statement said. While describing the allocation of the licences as a potentially significant development in Guyana’s governance, the GMPA said that it is not the leap that was anticipated and is necessary to move the society to comparable levels relative to media, with the major states of CARICOM.
The body expressed worry at the absence of transparency in the decision to make the allocations. “Sadly, we are without any policy reference or criteria determining document to make an assessment of the decisions. We continue to reject as unworkable, unsatisfactory and contrary to norms within the Caribbean and the Commonwealth for this unacceptable practice to be prolonged and perpetuated,” the statement said.
The GMPA called upon the authorities to make public the criteria used to determine the recipients of radio licences. “There are GMPA members who are of good character, technologically ready, and organisationally prepared and have had their applications denied without explanation,” it observed. The association also noted the “bewilderment” of some GMPA members who already have an established media practice and had diligently considered the synergies that would flow to their enterprises through a process of winning the right to operate radio stations. “They had hoped that their media experience, intended programme format, market niche, and the availability of the requisite financial investment would have received the highest ranking in a transparent radio licensing process. These GMPA members continue to espouse the Association’s fundamental call for a holistic approach to media governance in our society commencing with the establishment of a Broadcast (Authority) Commission and for building on the commendable efforts already undertaken and some needing perfecting,” the statement said.
The GMPA also said that it is cognisant that the decision to grant radio licences at this time was taken by former President, Bharrat Jagdeo and inappropriately made public at a political rally and in a context of gross maligning of the media. “This fact however does not invalidate our comments and observations. The GMPA does not focus on personalities but policies and processes. It is our view that President Donald Ramotar was under no obligation to honour that decision immediately and may have delayed it, without any national catastrophic consequences, until the Broadcast (Authority) Commission was expeditiously put in place,” the association said.
It called for the urgent establishment of a Broadcast Authority, whose proper responsibility will include the analysis of applications and recommendation for the issuance of such licences, saying that continued recalcitrance unnecessarily retards the country’s movement to institutions essential to good governance. “Such a Commission (Authority) will go a long way to ameliorating the many aggrieved citizens left in obfuscatory darkness and remove criticisms that critical national resources are dispensed mainly on the basis of patronage and that political allegiance is the chief determinant in the distribution of the nation’s resources,” the statement said.
The association added too that much of the ills and unprofessional conduct and products of media outlets is directly due to the absence of a broad based Broadcast (Authority) Commission of competent professionals insulated from the day to day political manoeuvrings of the society and with powers to regulate and apply sanctions if and when necessary. The establishment of such a Commission that will be concerned with the development of the media industry through assistance and guidance for its proper professional functioning in the national interest is long overdue, the association said.
Meantime, the GMPA said that in spite of the flawed and concealed process, those granted licences include citizens of good character and ready capability to rise to the collateral requirements of ownership and meet the obligation to function in the public interest. The association welcomed the new media enterprises but also expressed bafflement by the indecision of granting or renewing the radio licence of the University of Guyana. The association also applauded the granting of a radio licence to Region One while expressing a desire to understand what thoughts were given to under-served Regions of the country such as Regions Five and Region Ten and what weight was applied to programme type, human resource capability, and most of all, the capacity for financial sustainability in the decision making process.
The statement also expressed gratitude at the opportunity provided by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), at its request, to receive submissions and consider its recommendations relative to the media industry. “The candid responses give us hope that there exists a growing and significant groundswell for open and meaningful, comprehensive discussions on media governance and we trust that Government will find it timely and advantageous to have this pressing matter on the front burners of its forthcoming legislative agenda,” the statement said.
