Children's Code effective today
published: Monday | January 13, 2003
AS OF today, all licensed television, radio and cable services in Jamaica are required by the Broadcasting Commission to actively limit children's exposure to harmful violence, sex and language in the electronic media.
There had been a phased implementation period starting with the signing last August of the Children's Charter for Programming by the Minister of Information, the chairman of the Broadcasting Commission, the heads of the Media Association of Jamaica, and the Jamaica Association of Community Cable Operators, as well as UNICEF's representative in Jamaica.
The Commission's new requirements are outlined in the Children's Code for Programming. The code sets out standards for the media to rate and schedule or filter programming and provide advisories. This will assist parents and guardians to determine the types of material to which their children are exposed. The procedures in the Code arise from the general principles for dealing with child audiences, detailed in the Children's Charter for Programming.
Under the Code all licensed media services must:
Make an assessment of the programming they intend to transmit to determine
whether it contains any problematic material.
Transmit radio or television programmes or cable channels meant for
mature audiences only
only to those audiences.
Provide, in timely manner, information to viewers and listeners about
any problematic content in individual programmes or on specific channels.
Cable customers should expect from their providers:
A channel guide supplying the rating of every channel on the service,
including community channels. The ratings are G, PG, A and X.
That channels rated A (adult) will only be supplied if specifically
requested
Blocking of A-rated channels in a reasonable time after a request
is made for the channels to be removed.
Television viewers and radio listeners should expect from broadcasters:
That programming will be scheduled for airing to the appropriate audience.
Between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. stations will transmit only material suitable
for families, that is, material rated G (General) or PG (Parental guidance).
Advisories on any programmes that contain problematic levels of violence,
sex or adult language;
That great care will be taken not to expose children to material that
may traumatise them during newscasts, especially during the day and early
evening.
That commercials suitable for adult audiences will be scheduled for
after 9:00 p.m.
The Commission said that the Code was formulated after seven months of national public consultation, as well as extensive discussions with media managers and other stakeholders concerned about the interests of Jamaican children. It also indicated that the consultation activities were informed by an islandwide survey in 2001 of the concerns of Jamaicans about the effects of the media on their children, as well as research by Dr. Maureen Samms-Vaughan, proving that Jamaican children who watched a lot of television were experiencing academic, behavioural and social problems.
