St Helena : St Helena MEDIA STANDARDS ORDINANCE NOW IN FORCE
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Public Relations Information Office) 20.10.2012 (Article Archived on 03.11.2012)
The Executive Council Meeting of 2 October 2012 approved the Media Standards (Commencement) Order, 2012 which brought into force on 9 October the Media Standards Ordinance 2011 and consequently the Media Standards Commission Regulations, 2012.
MEDIA STANDARDS ORDINANCE NOW IN FORCE
The Executive Council Meeting of 2 October 2012 approved the Media Standards (Commencement) Order, 2012 which brought into force on 9 October the Media Standards Ordinance 2011 and consequently the Media Standards Commission Regulations, 2012.
The purpose of the Media Standards Ordinance 2011 is to regulate Media Services and to establish a Media Commission to monitor and enforce media standards on St Helena.
A Media Standards Commission has been formed, comprising Chief Magistrate John MacRitchie as President, and Members, Miss Jennifer Corker MBE JP and Mr Stephen Biggs, appointed by His Excellency, Governor Capes.
The function of the Media Commission will be to oversee media services delivered in or from St Helena including ensuring the regulatory objectives:
· Protection of vulnerable persons
· Protection of the public from the inclusion in media services of defamatory, discriminatory, offensive or harmful material
· Ensuring accuracy and impartiality in the delivery of factual material, and clear differentiation between material delivered as fact and that delivered as opinion or commentary
· Preventing the inclusion of advertising which is misleading, harmful or offensive,
· Preventing the use of techniques which exploit the possibility of conveying a message to the public, or of otherwise influencing members of the public, without them being aware, or fully aware, of what has occurred
· Ensuring compliance with any international obligations of St Helena relating to media services, protection of public safety, public health, public order and public morality.
A person with reason to believe that any media service has breached the Code of Practice incorporating the above regulatory objectives, may submit a written complaint to the Commission (through its clerk, Miss Yvonne Williams, Judicial Manager).
Hard copies of the complaints form are now available from the Customer Services Centre and the Public Library. An electronic version of the form can also be found on the SHG website www.sainthelena.gov.sh along with the Media Standards Ordinance 2011 and Media Standards Commission Regulations, 2012.
SHG
19 October 2012
|
