Why we need monitors
Editorial
Stabroek News
May 21, 2002
Having allowed the racehorse that the local television industry has become to bolt from the paddock, Guyana is now struggling to close the gates.
A broadcast advisory committee has been appointed and staff hired, thankfully with funds from the ever-giving donor community, to watch television all day and make notes about the raciest horses, who the committee must contact and work with to get them to be more circumspect about what they beam into our living rooms.
Among the things the watchers look for is local programmes, which allow hate speech, racial epithets and condemnation of any religion. Attention is also paid, the committee said, to the infringement of intellectual property. The committee said last week, when commenting on another issue that it was a force for moral suasion, technical and professional improvement and a catalyst for placing ethics high on the agenda of the television industry. The co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Radio Monopoly and Non-Partisan Boards, Deryck Bernard, added that the committee was intended to promote self-regulation by the industry and hold the industry to the standards that it sets for itself.
The fact that the majority of what is shown on television in Guyana is pirated is internationally known. In some circles it is a source of envy, in others wry amusement. However, what the pirates have not imported, is the strict adherence to watershed hours and other measures that allow for parental control of what our children watch. As a result, adult films and music videos that border on pornography are slotted in at odd hours during the day and early evening.
Why do we need monitors to tell us that our children ought not to be exposed to these things? Has it not occurred to television station operators/owners that a 'Lifetime Nighttime Movie' is not meant to be aired at 2:00 pm?
The sad reality is that a sense of responsibility is lacking and what simple commonsense should inform is still to be learnt. Clearly, the advisory committee faces an unenviable, uphill task. But the need for what it must do is dire. Wild horses can be tamed. Messrs Dial, Case and James must prove to be capable cowboys.