Andrew Wildes, Sunday Gleaner Writer

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the Broadcasting Commission, Cordel Green, has rejected accusations of double standards by the regulatory body in clamping down on vulgar lyrics in dancehall songs played on the electronic media, while overlooking the broadcasting of distasteful dancing during carnival.

"We regulate across the board and any content which is inappropriate will not be transmitted on radio or television and we will be issuing advisories to broadcasters on the appropriate coverage of carnival," Green told The Sunday Gleaner when the newspaper raised the issue of double standards, expressed by members of the public during a march yesterday by groups supportive of the commission's ban.

"There is no acceptance of close-up shots of scantily clad persons on television. There is no acceptance of the television sets being plastered with people engaged in gyration and simulation of sex," Green explained. "The message we are sending out is that content that is not fit for the airwaves ought not to be placed there, whether it is carnival or a dance," he added.

Concerned Jamaican groups

The marchers were a coalition of concerned Jamaican groups, including Hear the Children's Cry, Choose Life, Hands Across Jamaica, Xtreme Impact, Swallowfield Chapel, among others, who converged at Ardenne High School off Hope Road in St Andrew. The marchers travelled down Hope Road, on to Waterloo Road, on to Southdale Avenue, then on to Constant Spring Road. The group then stopped for a while to speak and display their placards at Mandela Park in Half-Way Tree before heading back to Ardenne.

While many members of the public supported the marchers and the commission's decision to ban the airplay of vulgar lyrics, some opposed the decision and berated those in support of it.

"Them bias, to me, dem bad mind," Courtney, a bystander, told The Sunday Gleaner, seconds after cursing the marchers rotten and chasing them away.

"Look how long soca a go roun' dutty! Dem permit dem fi go round day and night - right through and block road! Reggae naw do dat," he said.

Courtney, who operates a taxi, went further to say that he will be playing his CDs regardless. He had a few words for Prime Minister Bruce Golding who made it clear on Friday that he would be going all the way to enforce laws relating to the Broadcasting Commission's ban: "Him better try run di country and mek people live good, 'cause people a suffer. Him betta try work out something (to make) food price go down - music nuh have nuttin fi do wid food price. So him betta stick to more important issues."

Show solidarity

Principal of Ardenne High School, Esther Tyson, whose Sunday Gleaner article triggered the recent ban by the commission, also participated in the march. She commended it and called upon Jamaicans everywhere to show solidarity with the Broadcasting Commission.

Tyson said that she shared the opinions of the dancehall community that to not address carnival is a double standard and pointed to the fact that she had written about carnival before, but received no support.

andrew.wildes@gleanerjm.com