Appointments promised soon as Broadcasting Commission without board for four months

Electronic media regulator the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica has been without a board of management since November 2021 when the term of the previous guardians expired. But government and executive officials have sought to allay concerns about the delay, saying consultations are advanced.

In a Gleaner interview Sunday, immediate past chairman of the commission, Professor Anthony Clayton, described the delay in appointing a new board as a “very unusual situation”.

“Normally what happens is the board comes to the end of its term of office and stands down by the end of November, and the new board is usually appointed and it usually takes no more than two to three weeks,” said Clayton.

“So the new board is appointed usually before the end of the year, and here we are in April and there is no board. As far as I know, that is the longest period that has ever been without a board in place,” Clayton stated.

The First Schedule of the Broadcasting and Radio Re-diffusion Act stipulates that the governor general is responsible for appointing the board after consultation between the prime minister and the leader of the Opposition.

Cordel Green, executive director of the commission, said he was also unaware of the reason for the delay but emphasised that the appointment process was outside of his jurisdiction.

“Whatever information was required in terms of board appraisal, etc, and appropriate notification of the intending end of the tenure, nothing was outstanding. So in other words, there is nothing the Broadcasting Commission needs to do or did not do in relation to that question,” said Green.

The executive director sought to give the assurance that the appointment process was “well advanced”.

That view has been echoed by Minister without Portfolio Robert Morgan, who said that consultations are under way and “I suspect that a board will be appointed shortly”.

Morgan, who works in the Office of the Prime Minister, said that he was unable to give a hard timeline for the appointment of the board nor was he able to provide a status update on the consultations between Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Mark Golding.

“We would have loved to have had a board in place as quickly as possible. However, it is a process, and we have to follow the law and the process,” he said.

Attempts to contact Golding were unsuccessful.

Last week, Golding urged Morgan to tread cautiously on what he believes is an imminent strategic shift in the deployment of the Jamaica Information Service and the Broadcasting Commission.

The contract of JIS Chief Executive Officer Donna-Marie Rowe was not renewed last month.

“It is concerning that the minister appears to be intent on politicising the governance boards when the law gives the power of appointment to the governor general specifically to keep these agencies out of the political fray,” Golding said in a statement issued last Thursday.

It is not clear whether Golding telegraphed difficulties between the Government and the Opposition in arriving at consensus on Broadcasting Commission board nominees.

Questioned Sunday whether major staff changes were coming for the commission, Morgan shared that he was unaware of an imminent shake-up as appointments are made by the governor general.

“I don’t think the Government at this time is in a position to comment on something that is not within its control,” he said.

Morgan said that the Holness administration was focused on the ongoing conversion from analogue to digital switchover in the marketplace.

Television Jamaica became the first media company to complete the process this year.

Morgan highlighted that full implementation was crucial to the transmission of information in Jamaica as it would allow for more people to access content, especially those without cable services in rural areas.

Established in 1986, the Broadcasting Commission is an independent statutory agency that falls under the supervision of the minister with responsibility for information.

It is mandated by the Broadcasting and Radio Re-diffusion Act to monitor and regulate services such as free-to-air television, radio, and subscriber television cable services.

editorial@gleanerjm.com