JAMAICA BANS MUSIC AND TELEVISION SHOWS PROMOTING VIOLENCE AND DRUG USE
After an increase in gun violence, Jamaica officials announced that they have banned music and television programs that promote violence, criminal activity, and drug use. The banned occurred after a study done by Insight Crime listed Jamaica to have the highest crime rate within Caribbean and Latin America last year.
“The broadcast of any edited song which directly or indirectly promotes scamming, illegal use or abuse of drugs, illegal or harmful use of guns or other offensive weapons, “jungle justice” or any form of illegal or criminal activity is strictly prohibited. This includes live editing and original edits (e.g. edits by producer/label) and the use of near-sounding words as substitutes for offensive lyrics, expletives or profanities. “
Jamaican artists are heavily impacted and criticized the steps officials took to try to decrease violence.
Grammy winning artist Stephen McGregor, also known as Di Genius, spoke out on the new law put in place. He believes the government should focus more on decreasing the violence due to the current economic crisis in Jamaica.
“The music that comes from that, people are not going to be creating happy, feel good ‘one love, one heart’ music in those circumstances. You can’t force the creatives to paint a picture that’s not really in front of us.”
“Art imitates life, and the music is coming from what is happening in Jamaica for real,” said Stephen McGregor. “But because it doesn’t fit the moral mold of what they would like it to look like, they try to hamper it.”
The broadcasting commission declined to respond to AP’s request for comment on criticisms, and did not immediately detail the consequences of a violation.
