New broadcasting package announced

THE GOVERNMENT announced yesterday that it had passed a package of measures aimed at keeping tighter check on broadcasting.

An official press release also stated the fees payable by anyone wanting a licence to broadcast: a national television broadcasting licence will now set the would-be TV station owner back £5,000. A local TV licence costs £1, 000, the same as a licence to broadcast nationally on the radio. A local radio station needs a £500 licence, while a small local radio station must pay just £200.

According to the bill, applicants must also carefully control what they broadcast. Television and radio have “a social mission in the cultural development” of Cyprus, and every station is therefore required to have an ethics committee to ensure the quality of what goes on air.

Programmes are required to respect the rights of anyone appearing on them, and to ensure the integrity of gameshows and the like. Viewers must also be warned, either through an announcement at the start of a programme, or in written credits, if it is unsuitable for persons under a certain age.

The regulations were passed on January 27.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.