Caption: Headtable at UWI's Broadcast Code panel discussion
I attended UWI's (University of the West Indies) panel discussion of the Broadcast Code staged by the Communications Students Association (CSA). I was glad to leave behind the mountain of work on my desk. How good to find another example to demonstrate that knowledge comes not only from absorbing the ideas of opined editors but actually engaging academia for an intellectual framework on what can be pedestrian thinking.
The panel was quite good one. The head of the Communications Students Association, Dr Godfrey Steele was joined by Joanne Briggs, the Media Association’s president, Irving Ward, the news editor of the Express, Dr Christina Abraham, lecturer in the Communications Department and Kerry Anne Roberts, president of the CSA.
Here were some key points from the panel:
1) TATT, the drafters of the Code, is a state-run enterprise with unbridled power to define what is good broadcasting, thereby giving government too much power over how journalists conduct their work. It portends the emergence of a state culture. Dr. Steele raised an interesting point that the government themselves are media content producers and are not just mere consumers of news. In the Broadcast Code no mention is made of Government in this role.
2) The Code assumes a “ Thou shalt not tone” and reads more like an edict rather than a guide and adopts the big stick approach with the media. Additionally, according to Ward, it shuns the feedback given to another similar document proposed in 2003 where the public and media made salient recommendations about what a Code should look like.
3) Briggs suggested that the Code also takes control away from parents. She asked why were media houses replacing parents in the household and questioned what happened to parent’s power to switch off and take control of information their children received.
4) Dr Abraham offered Canada as an example of a country whose unique position led it to formulate a broadcast code that allowed for the flourishing of the Canadian media and film industry. She also encouraged the audience to examine the ideological space in which the Code was formed i.e. Why is there a need now for the Broadcast Code.
5) The Code is censorious of what traditional media can say, write and produce but makes no mention of social media and the web based architecture of the media houses. Can Internet content editors place material not deemed worthy for print on the Web? The Code makes no provision for the role of blogs, you tube and my space or flickr as valid, modern news distribution channels.
6) Another interesting point raised by the academics was that in the context of regional integration, talks of a proposed union with OECS countries, CSME and free movement of regional people, it was counter productive to talk of a country-specific broadcast code when the region could be better served with a more valid discussion that examined a Caribbean- wide broadcast code. To do otherwise was parochial at best.
My thoughts? The media is not some monolithic group and not all media houses are created equally. There is a clear need for standards which the media houses can agree. One that is super imposed by Government is just plain stupid and we don’t need to turn our heads too far from our neighbours in Venezuela and Guyana to see the consequences.
But the media’s silence is deafening. Only one body (CCN ) has responded to the document put forward by TATT and there has only been a smattering of comments by columnists.
The media should use their own powerful tools to get that message out and they can do so by telling stories of countries where the media is not free to operate without fear. This is where PR comes in. Effective PR is about facts, but also ease of access to knowledge and compelling examples that makes information easy to digest and people friendly.
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With that said, the Communication Studies Association of UWI is hosting the second leg of discussions on the broadcasting code. This time we have a represenative from the TATT on the panel to make it a lot more interesting.
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