KINGSTON, Jamaica— Government Senator Charles Sinclair, has come out in support of the Broadcasting Commission over its decision to ban the playing of music which glorifies illegal activities on radio, while slamming artistes for promoting such content.

READ: ‘No more scamming and molly songs’

Sinclair, who weighed in on the ongoing debate over the commission’s decision taken earlier this month, argued that “musical content can influence the impressionable mind”.

He was speaking on Friday as he made his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate.

“I congratulate the Broadcasting Commission on its recent directive restricting airplay of music which glorifies violence, gunmanship, and use of drugs on radio and television,” Sinclair stated.

According to him, “Those in the creative arts must be creative in a real way”.

“Their narrative claiming right to freedom of expression should be moderated to read ‘right to responsible freedom of expression. Freedom and rights are never absolute, but are constrained by boundaries of accuracy, fairness, rights of others and responsibility,” the senator added.

Sinclair argued further that performances in music which state “’kill the witness before him go Court’ (a line in a popular song by a popular, and indeed talented artiste) are not creative”.

He asserted that the fact that the Evidence Amendment Act provides that the written statement of a dead witness is admissible during a trial “makes such an utterance foolish”.

Sinclair pointed out that the directive of the Commission and Section 18(A) of the Evidence Amendment Act are neutral with no specific reference to any genre of music. “It cannot therefore be argued that Government, in its generic sense, or the Broadcasting Commission is targetting dancehall music,” he said.

The commission earned the ire of some entertainers after it issued a directive requiring broadcasters to immediately prevent the transmission of any recorded material that promotes and/or glorifies illegal activity.

The ban covers the transmission of:

● any audio or video recording, live song, or speech which promotes and/or glorifies scamming, illegal use or abuse of drugs (eg Molly), illegal or harmful use of guns or other offensive weapons, “jungle justice”, or any other form of illegal or criminal activity;

● any edited song which directly or indirectly promotes scamming, illegal drugs, illegal or harmful use of guns or other offensive weapons, jungle justice, or any form of illegal or criminal activity. This includes live editing and original edits (eg edits by producer/label) as well as the use of near-sounding words as substitutes for offensive lyrics, expletives, or profanities.

Sinclair also noted that it was not the first time that the commission was taking such a stance.

“I encourage them to be vigilant in effective monitoring and enforcement of the directive. They must continue the dialogue with all stakeholders, licensees, producers, artistes, purveyors of musical content in the promotion of the objective of the directives,” he advised.

He said he had taken note of pushback from a few individuals in the music industry.

“Some are known by their own expressions to be politically aligned. It must be made clear the position on clean content is not, and cannot be a political matter. It is not one of JLP vs PNP or Government vs Opposition. All well-minded persons should be at one. We cannot continue in the way we have,” said Sinclair.

He said the Government had made it “absolutely clear on National Heroes’ Day (October 17) 2022, its recognition of dancehall music when the artiste, Jeffery Campbell, better known as Agent Sasco, was vested with a National Award for his positive influence on youth through music.