Draft Broadcast Code to be revisited soon

The Draft Broadcast Code is going to be revisited within the next two months according to Selby Wilson, chairman of the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT). This comes after Fixin’ T&T, headed by Kirk Waithe wrote to the TATT on March 12 regarding the broadcast of footage of cricketer Runako Morton who died in a car crash on CCN TV6’s “Crime Watch” programme. The authority responded by sending a warning letter to the television station on March 13.  The letter sent to the television advised TV6 that, “it is of the view that there was no public interest being served in the airing of the dying moments of Mr Morton and is also of the view that the airing of the programme may have constituted an invasion of privacy of Mr Morton and his family.” It said further that, “TV6 should ensure that journalistic standards be maintained at all times and that content which will generally be considered as unsuitable for the viewing by children not be aired during such periods when children are likely to be watching television and that the sensibilities of all citizens are at all times taken into consideration in all programming.” 

 

 

Waithe claims the media house did nothing about the graphic content it broadcast. He said  Fixin’ T&T plans to write another letter to TATT about a “Crime Watch” programme two nights ago which included images of a bleeding corpse. “It is obvious that TATT’s words have fallen on deaf ears. This was apparent from the ‘Crime Watch’ programme two nights ago,” Waithe said. However, Wilson says writing a letter to TV6 is all TATT can do since there is no  broadcast code in effect. “We cannot take greater action like suspend anyone’s licence since we don’t have an approved broadcast code. The last government left it for the whole of their term,” he said. Wilson said the current administration is going to revisit the broadcast code within two months. “There was already careful consultation on the code, but the last government never advanced the process. The present administration said the code is water under the bridge and the process is not going to be completely redone, but there will be one last consultation,” he said.

 

 

Waithe said his group is committed to assisting TATT with the code because there needs to be regulation of content. “We want to assist TATT in every way we can. I believe when they (media) show images like these it is an insult to the public. It desensitises the public to the sanctity of human life and it is in poor taste. “Their showing of this content is inconsistent with the values of the OCM (One Caribbean Media) group,” he said. Waithe felt media houses should not wait for the code to come into effect to do what is right. “Media houses like CCN TV6  should take that step on their own. Media houses should not be incapable of governing themselves,” he said. He stressed Fixin’ T&T’s commitment to freedom of the press but said the code was necessary. “A robust, free media is critical to a democracy, but there are basic tenets of good media and those include responsibility, privacy and good taste,” Waithe said.