Ms Basly, One other side of the coin would suggest that airwaves are natural resources and thus owned by the public whose use is a privilege extended through licensing. Such privilege should not be seen to be abused through broadcasting undesirable content without consideration to those who have extended the privilege of licensing. Numerous nations, across the world including those with advanced broadcasting sectors exercise control over what can or cannot be broadcast over public airwaves. Different rules tend to apply in regards to privately owned infrastructure as would be the case with cable television, however in the case of digital over the air TV they would tend to fall under stricter regulation as they like regular broadcasts, utilise public airwaves. There are current laws regulating content such as that you mention below in the local market including prohibiting their importation. There have been some reported cases of enforcement of the same. (Cap. 63 of the Penal code). As to what is moral or immoral and what standards should apply, the below ongoing case might offer an insight into the difficulty of reaching such determinations. At the end of the day what it really comes down to is whether unlimited freedoms without regulation, examples of which might include legalisation of certain banned drugs or unrestricted programming, bode well for a society or does it contribute to the decay of society more so when children happen to be in the picture. http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=FCC_v._Fox_Television_Stations On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 2:20 PM, Faima Basly <[email protected]> wrote:
One side of the coin to me, is one of personal choice, if one feels the program is not age appropriate why is the TV on? Switch it off until news time, so why are we blaming the media, its only out to lure viewwership and make money? Dont get lured .
Why does a regulator or government feel the need to exercise moral authority? Will the regulator also Monitor cable and Digital TV showing locally? . Its on kenyan airwaves in kenyan homes watched by kenyan families..The principle will have to be the same.
Will there be regulation for Video and DVD libraries - or is it a question of choice to pick porn as opposed to a national geographic DVD? is this not the same as the home TV which one paid for?
The other side of the coin, TV stations get into contracts that are worth millions of shillings to secure programming that is competitive and will pull and sustain a certain calibre of viewership which in turn they sell to their advertisers. They also commit way in advance for said programs and cannot wake up and cancel their contracts. It would not suprise me if what is being aired today was committed to in 2007. so there is a real potential loss of money here. Ofcourse they will cry foul. The media has itself to blame as competitiveness for viewership kept raising the bar ...
Factors of influence fall far outside the TV nowadays - lets regulate Magazines too while we are at it, novels, PSP's ( lots of violent programs), Music videos, Toys ( have you seen how they dress barbie dolls nowadays?), games etc.
The task of creating a programming code is noble indeed, however it will be prepared by humans with varying degrees of socio-cultural influences and it will be interesting to see the rationales behind the programming codes that are set and most important how they will be upheld reasonably without pulling media licenses and cutting programming half way.
Engage the media and other stakeholders fully on this process and sanity will prevail.
Ms Basly
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:46:31 -0800 From: [email protected] Subject: Re: [kictanet] Broadcast/Media Section:-What are the good Aspects?-1day CC: [email protected] To: [email protected]
Folks,
I know alot has been shared. But no harm reminding us what is good about this Act - under the Broadcast/Media section. My assumption is members have had a chance to go through the enacted amendments - I must admit it is not easy - one must have the relevant Policy, Bill and the Amended Act together.
However, one easy thing I noted is the bit about the Programming Code - something that tries to regulate what is broadcasted on Radio, TV and on Internet ( the .ke internet I presume). I find this might be a good point to try and bring sanity in terms of reducing the current pornographic bias on our airwaves.
What do the others feel? Particularly those stakeholders whom am informed are just be coming out of the 1st Consultative Meeting at Serena Hotel this morning? (which incidentally shall reconvene on Thrs 15th Jan 2009 at 11am)
Any comments? walu.
--- On Mon, 1/12/09, John Walubengo <[email protected]> wrote:
From: John Walubengo <[email protected]> Subject: [kictanet] Online Discussion- Broadcast/Media Section:-What are the good Aspects?-1day To: [email protected] Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, January 12, 2009, 9:11 AM Kenya Communicatoin Ammendment Act –Online Discussion.
Outline Description The Kenyan Government has enacted the Kenya Information and Communication Amendment Act (2009) - popularly known as the ICT Bill/Media Bill and KICTAnet invites comments on the same. Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder forum that aims to enhance collaboration between various Government, Private Sector, Civil Society, Academia and others interested in harnessing ICT for development.
Program Setting & Description: The Act has the following major categories and shall be discussed as outlined below: i) Broadcasting & Media(3days) ii) Information Technology (2days) iii) Telecommunication & Radio (2days) iv) Postal (1day) v) Academia & Socio-Cultural (implied within text)-2days
Members shall analyse the Act over a period of two weeks and submit their findings for subsequent consideration to the Ministry of Information and Communication.
Aim: To understand the implications of the Act and make recommendations for improvement.
Objective 1. To identify and list the possible gaps, amendments and additions within the Kenya Communication Ammendment Act
Main Outcomes/Deliverables 1. Participants contributions as captured and stored within the Online Environment 2. Summarised contributions in terms of Action-Items (add, amend, delete) 3. Face-2-face workshop and Presentation to the ministry.
Kick off today by inviting comments on the good aspects within the Broadcasting sections. Tomorrow we review the bad and make suggestions for amemdments improvements on Wednesday. Floor is open.
walu.
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