{"id":3241,"date":"2010-05-16T03:03:01","date_gmt":"2010-05-16T07:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=3241"},"modified":"2010-05-30T04:06:40","modified_gmt":"2010-05-30T08:06:40","slug":"unc-threatens-action-on-pm-broadcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=3241","title":{"rendered":"PM Broadcast: Govt Abusing Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Prime<\/a>
Prime Minister Patrick Manning<\/figcaption><\/figure>Govt accused of abusing authority<\/b><\/big><\/p>\n

The Telecommunications Authority of T&T (TATT) has been served with a legal letter by the United National Congress (UNC), claiming that the Government is abusing its authority for this election period. In a letter dated May 15, 2010, Om Lalla stated that his client, the UNC, entered into contractual arrangements with various television and radio companies to purchase broadcast airtime. However, Lalla stated the Government had demanded the same air time for which the UNC had already entered an agreement. Those days include May 16 (today), May 17 and May 23. The letter stated that failing to hear from the authority would result in the UNC seeking redress in the High Court without notice.
\n
\nLalla stated that on May 14, a formal notification from the Government Information Services Ltd was sent to all television and radio companies. The letter claims that the notification said \u201cthat they (television and radio companies) are required to allocate certain days and times for an address to the nation by Mr Patrick Manning, Prime Minister, of T&T.\u201d Lalla stated: \u201cThe times demanded are prime air time, which include the following days all at 8 pm, at which times our client has already entered into contractual arrangements with several radio and television stations.\u201d
\nFull Article : guardian.co.tt<\/a> <\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

UNC threatens action on PM broadcast<\/b><\/big><\/p>\n

By Andre Bagoo
\nSunday, May 16 2010 – newsday.co.tt<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

ATTORNEYS for the United National Congress yesterday called on the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) to \u201cforthwith\u201d take action to prevent the reported commandeering of television and radio broadcast times by the Government Information Services Limited (GISL) for a broadcast for use by Prime Minister Patrick Manning. \u201cThis request by the Prime Minister for allocation of air-time when Parliament has been dissolved, not only takes undue advantage of its position as a caretaker Government but also abuses his authority in an election period in order to gain unfair, improper and illegitimate advantage over his opponents,\u201d attorney Om Lalla wrote in a letter to the TATT chairman Winston Parmesar. \u201cI shall appreciate hearing from you on this matter forthwith failing which I am instructed by my client to seek legal redress in the High Court without notice.\u201d Lalla noted that \u201con or about May 14, the GISL formally notified all television and radio companies which operate under a State broadcast licence that they are required to allocate certain days and times for an address to the nation by Mr Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.\u201d
\nFull Article : newsday.co.tt<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Govt accused of abusing authority The Telecommunications Authority of T&T (TATT) has been served with a legal letter by the United National Congress (UNC), claiming that the Government is abusing its authority for this election period. In a letter dated May 15, 2010, Om Lalla stated that his client, the UNC, entered into contractual arrangements … Continue reading PM Broadcast: Govt Abusing Authority<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[141,310,1,186,178,296,396,30,7,142],"tags":[85,370,144,359,82,1015,49,376],"class_list":["post-3241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cop","category-elections-general-tt","category-general-tt","category-law","category-media","category-njac","category-peoples-partnership","category-pnm","category-politics","category-unc","tag-abuse","tag-andre-bagoo","tag-kamla-persad-bissessar","tag-newsday","tag-patrick-manning","tag-politics","tag-tt-govt","tag-tatt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3241"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3549,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3241\/revisions\/3549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}