Shaddick blasts KN for “dishonest, devious” reporting

Guyana National Broadcast Authority Chairperson Bibi Shaddick has criticised Kaieteur News for distorting and misreporting her statements. She was referring to an article titled “Broadcasting Authority had nothing to do with recent licences”, published in the March 19 edition of the newspaper.

The article she observed revealed that she was woefully and badly misquoted by the newspaper. As a result, Shaddick has stated quite emphatically that unless a very prominent retraction on the misreported article is made, she will not be entertaining any interviews or responding to any comments from that paper.
Board appointment
She explained that the reporter had asked what role she played in the granting of radio licences and her response was that she had no role to play and the licences were granted long before she was appointed chair of the GNBA board on September 4, 2012, shortly after an order made by the president in his capacity as minister of information. This, she told the reporter, brought the Broadcast Authority Act into force, which was passed in July 2011 and assented to in September 2011. The board was not appointed until a year later, she reiterated.
What was reported however was: “Despite the fact that a Broadcasting Bill was passed in the National Assembly in July 2011 and assented to by President Bharrat Jagdeo in September of the same year; and despite the fact that Cabinet approved the governing board of the Guyana National Broadcast Authority (GNBA) in the same month, Chairman of GNBA, Bibi Shaddick, yesterday [Tuesday] told Kaieteur News that she had nothing to do with the issuance of licences in November of that year.” Shaddick views this as very duplicitous reporting.
“We were appointed a year later, the licences were granted in November 2011… to say in the newspaper, despite the fact that we were appointed in September, I am saying I had nothing to do with granting of licences is being dishonest, devious to say the least.”
Licences can only be revoked with cause
Pointing to another aspect of the article, Shaddick said that she was not sure whether licences would be revoked. Observing that she had informed the KN reporter that the board would, during the last three days of this week, be processing applications, the reporter had also been informed that under the law, licences could not be revoked unless there is cause.
She clarified that “when I said that we are not going to revoke licences in this process, it is because we have no complaints or evidence that anybody has breached the terms of their licence.”
A follow-up statement in the article said “Kaieteur News understands that once the minister of information – the president, who at that time was Jagdeo, issued licences, they can’t be revoked.”
The GNBA chairperson was perplexed at the statement.
“The act has specific provisions for conditions and criteria under which a licence may be revoked…. If somebody is issued a licence by the president, it’s irrevocable? So they can go ahead and do all kinds of things on the airwaves? That’s not true. There are specific provisions in the act for which there is cause for which a licence can be revoked.”
Fair, above board
However, she emphasised that if no cause exists, the licence cannot be revoked since it would be illegal to do so and the decision would be challenged in a court of law.
“As long as I am chairman of the board, the decisions will be in accordance with the law, fair and above board,” she stated.
On the issue of applications, Shaddick pointed out that previously an individual or business could have been granted a licence, but now, according to the Broadcast Act, only a company or a trust can be granted one. On the belaboured issue of more airwaves being allocated to some persons than others, she explained that the basis of allocations is determined on the proposal presented by the applicants and the frequencies are allocated with respect to the geographical areas that would be covered.
“The spectrums are for reach, and not for different stations. All those who call themselves experts in the field know very well what it is for. They are just trying to make trouble, being devious and mischievous.”
Region 10
On the Region 10 allocation issue, Shaddick is again appealing to persons to use their influence to get Lindeners and the Region 10 administration to either register a company or a trust which will be the licensee for the Region 10 television station. She explained that under the Broadcast Act, a licence can only be granted to a company or a trust.
She stated that the GNBA is committed to the swift expedition of the Region 10 application once it is in the system.
She explained that on the day that the order was issued for the Broadcast Authority to be established, the Region 10 application was made to the National Frequency Management Unit. She subsequently requested the supporting documents from Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon, who promised to provide them. The region’s application will be processed as soon as the documents are made available.
Current licensees
Shaddick on Tuesday told KN Editor-in-Chief Adam Harris that when the board held its first meeting, “we had a list of the current licensees: radio, TV and cable. That was given to us because in the first 28 days after the act came into force, people had to apply to continue to broadcast, and by law we were required to give permission, to all the licensees to continue to broadcast, which was done.”
On the question of whether the board wanted to investigate the granting of licences for radio, she stated that it does not have the legal authority to do that under the law. According to law, she explained, all applications have to be channelled to the NFMU for allocation of frequencies, depending on the areas the applicants wish to cover in their transmission, before the applications are processed.
Shaddick reiterated her acknowledgment that some applications have been around for a number of years. However, she explained that these were made through various channels such as the Wireless Telegraph at GPO, the prime minister’s office and Dr Roger Luncheon’s office.