{"id":22506,"date":"2018-12-11T16:30:26","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T20:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=22506"},"modified":"2018-12-12T16:58:17","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T20:58:17","slug":"telecoms-minister-says-new-observer-illegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/telecoms-minister-says-new-observer-illegal\/","title":{"rendered":"Telecoms Minister says new Observer illegal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Telecommunications Minister Melford Nicholas warned the owners of the new Observer Media entity \u2013 NewsCo<\/em> – to stop breaking the law.<\/p>

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Speaking at a sitting of Parliament held this morning, Nicholas says that he explained to the new principals of NewsCo Ltd.<\/em> that the means by which the radio and television licenses for Observer Media publications were obtained were, in fact, illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey indicated, that among other things, that they had acquired, by some financial transactions, the license by which Observer Media Publications operated two radio stations and television license,\u201d said Nicholas.<\/p>

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\u201cI indicated to them that, to my vantage point, that was not the case.\u201d<\/p>

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The Telecoms Minister indicated that, subsequent to that meeting, he had the Solicitor General write to the principles of the new media group that, \u201cThey were not permitted, and that an assignment of the license could not be permitted under law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reformed Observer resumed on air programming last week with a few of its familiar shows resuming broadcast from its new location on Redcliffe Street in St. John\u2019s.<\/p>

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Nicholas says having listened to the programming, he is seeing no difference between the old and new entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn consequence, it means therefore that if the Observer Media Group is no longer operational,\u201d said Nicholas, \u201cAnd that the broadcast that we now hear taking place over the media is in fact emanating under the auspices of\u00a0NewsCo<\/em>, that\u00a0NewsCo<\/em>\u00a0is in defiance of the law and I am going to be obliged to enforce the provisions of the law.\u201d<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Telecommunications Minister goes on to dismiss the notion that his government\u2019s interest in this matter as an attempt to suppress the freedom of the press and that the media is \u201cunder siege\u201d.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But Nicholas said that, \u201cNothing could be further from the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis government has no interest in seeing a situation where the already established principle of open and free and transparent media is done any harm.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Minister, it is the former principles of the now defunct media house that are to blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we cannot escape is the judgment that must fall to the feet of Observer Publications<\/em> as a result of the financial difficulties.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Telecommunications Minister Melford Nicholas warned the owners of the new Observer Media entity \u2013 NewsCo – to stop breaking the law. Speaking at a sitting of Parliament held this morning, Nicholas says that he explained to the new principals of NewsCo Ltd. that the means by which the radio and television licenses for Observer Media publications were obtained were, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTelecoms Minister says new Observer illegal - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/telecoms-minister-says-new-observer-illegal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Telecoms Minister says new Observer illegal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Telecommunications Minister Melford Nicholas warned the owners of the new Observer Media entity \u2013 NewsCo – to stop breaking the law. 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