Restriction on Illicit Content is About Setting Standards – Minister Morgan

Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with Responsibility for Information, Hon. Robert Morgan, has reiterated that the Broadcasting Commission’s restriction on illicit content is not about banning music but setting standards.

He said the entity has a responsibility to manage the country’s free-to-air radio, television, and information portals in a way that “greatly shapes the psychology and perspective of the Jamaican people”.

“This is the standard that the people of the country of Jamaica have set; that is what we want as a society. This is how our society should be framed, how our children should be socialised, and how our radio and television should function,” Mr. Morgan said.

He was addressing the Broadcasting Commission’s Strategic and Operational Planning Retreat at Ocean Coral Spring Hotel in Trelawny on Wednesday (October 19).

The Broadcasting Commission recently announced a restriction on content transmitted through radio, television or cable services of any audio or video recording, live song or speech, that promotes and glorifies illicit activities such as scamming, drug abuse, and gun violence.

Minister Morgan, in supporting the move, noted that the Government, or State authority, has a responsibility to uphold policies that help to make Jamaica a better place.

The Broadcasting Commission’s Strategic and Operational Planning Retreat runs from October 18 to 20.

Over the three days, the entity’s leadership team has been engaged in corporate governance training, strategic planning and budgeting, among other focus areas.

Chairman, Professor Lloyd Waller, said the Commission is reviewing its own capacity and ability to continue to facilitate positive change in Jamaica.

“We will equip ourselves with the tools, techniques and strategies that we will need to be able to advance humanity and, in this particular instance, Jamaica. That is the only way that we, as an organisation… in a small developing country, can think about the future,” he said.