THE Gully-Gaza debate yesterday moved from Jamaica House to the hallowed halls of Gordon House, where media managers and practitioners were forced to defend their "involvement" in fuelling the lewd lyrical feud between rival dancehall artistes Mavado and Vybz Kartel.

Gary Allen, president of the Media Association of Jamaica (MAJ) which represents media managers, said that while the media had not been "uninvolved" in helping to air the distasteful material from the dancehall artistes, it could not shoulder all the blame.

He also dismissed arguments that a blind eye was being turned because playing smutty lyrics was profitable to media houses, pointing out that there was a culture of secrecy between guilty disc jockeys and the artistes themselves.

"There is the feeling that this has been driven by a profit-seeking media. This is not so. In fact, the more we play in the electronic media the more we would have to pay..." he said.

Allen argued that of the 22 free-to-air radio licensees in Jamaica, about 10, or less than half, play dancehall music while the three television stations provide a "strong counterbalance of material directed at wholesome family values".

According to Allen, the dilemma the media faced was that its reporting of the issues surrounding the so-called songs and artistes was viewed as promoting and programmes discussing the issues were viewed as supporting.

The MAJ president said that the real issue which politicians must confront was the very source of the lyrics ,instead of attempting to "shoot the messenger" (the media).

"The problem has been misdiagnosed and the treatment is for the wrong problem," Allen said, adding that Jamaicans had become overly exposed to raw and unfiltered sexually explicit material from alternate media sources such as the Internet, i-Pods and foreign and local cable channels.

"There is a role we can play, and we are ready; we want to do it and do it now," Allen said, and called on parliamentarians to partner with the media for the common cause.

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