Executives of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA), met yesterday with officials from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), to discuss collaboration for March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections.
The GNBA team was led by the Chairman of Board, Leslie Sobers; Board Member and Chair of the Monitoring and Compliance Committee, Jocelyne Josiah; Board Secretary, Violet Boyal; Head of the Monitoring and Compliance Department, Christina Bianchini; and Public Relations Officer (PRO), Joel Ally.
The GECOM team comprised of the Chairperson, Justice (retired) Claudette Singh; Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield; and Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward.
The GNBA Chairman, in his introductory remarks, gave a synopsis of the mandate of the GNBA and the scope of the Authority with respect to its monitoring parameters and capacity. Sobers alluded to the fact that GECOM has a wider mandate as it relates to monitoring during the elections period, and it is the intention of the GNBA to collaborate with the Guyana Elections Commission and the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) during this important period.
The Chairman of the GNBA explained that the Authority, like the ERC and the GECOM, monitors for content that may incite racial hatred or crime and public disorder, with respect to broadcasting. He pointed out that enshrined in the Broadcasting Act; there is a fairness doctrine which means that broadcasters when dealing with controversial issues, must cater to balance and fairness with respect to treatment, time and space allocation.
Jocelyne Josiah of the GNBA informed GECOM representatives that there is an entire department at the GNBA that monitors content. She proffered that the Code of Conduct for GECOM needs to be reviewed and updated in preparation for the upcoming elections; GECOM representatives agreed.
GNBA’s PRO, Ally noted that the populace is gradually moving away from the Mainstream Media; and Social Media is continuously growing. He added that reporters in addition to signing on to the Media Code of Conduct should also reflect those principles stipulated in the Code of Conduct when posting content and opinions on social platforms; being cognizant of the fact that they have an influence on their followers.
The GNBA will soon be allocating its representative to work in collaboration with GECOM and the ERC to develop and operationalize a collaborative framework to ensure that the proposed tripartite engagement is successful and beneficial to all parties involved.
