The Broadcasting Commission in response to today’s editorial in the Jamaica Observer is counteracting aspects of the article, which stated that the commission should be held accountable for Vybz Kartel’s music being played on radio and television stations.
In a news release this evening, the commission stated that the court made no orders in relation to Kartel’s production of songs. This, the commission argued, is presumably because the appropriate authority would be the Department of Correctional Services.
“To be clear, as it concerns convicts, their privilege or ability to create music whilst incarcerated is governed by correctional rules,” the commission added.
They explained that in July 2016, they had initiated a meeting with the Commissioner of Corrections and officials of the Ministry of National Security to discuss their concerns about anecdotal evidence that Kartel had been making recordings from prison.
“We were made to understand that the Correctional Services were investigating the allegations and that no determination had been made on the matter,” the commission stated, adding that they learnt that the prison rules were under review to deal specifically with that issue.
There is no provision in law barring the transmission of music, simply because it was created by a convicted person.
Only if it were proved that the music was created in contravention of a law governing the Correctional Services and a broadcaster knowingly facilitated that contravention, could there be a lawful determination that the broadcasting rules were breached.
As the editorial acknowledged, the issue is much broader than radio and television because we live in an age when many people, particularly youth, receive, create and share content on social media.
The Broadcasting Commission said that they do take public concerns about broadcast content lightly.
“We are taking note of the range of views that are being expressed, such as those in the editorial. In the end, we will protect the right to freedom of expression whilst taking account of the realities of the age in which we live, our role as custodians of shared values and our responsibility to the youth who are trustees of posterity”.