Talk show hosts and others who provide a platform for viewers or listeners to express their opinions are responsible for what is said on their programmes.
This is according to Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall who on Tuesday evening pointed out that failure to make responsible decisions can lead to charges relating to cybercrime or criminal conduct.
The AG admitted that while it is impossible to predict what callers will say on the programmes streamed on social media, television or radio stations, the host has a responsibility to discontinue the engagement once hostility is detected.
While not every host of a programme must be trained in law, Nandlall said “at least if you are going to talk publicly, you ought to have common sense.”
He further explained that “it is not expected that you [the host] will be able to predict what the person is likely to say or may say but from the moment you hear the person is saying something that you know, as an ordinary, reasonable sensible human being, something that the person should not be saying, some thing that can put you in problem, something that can make you an accomplice or an accessory to a crime, you have a duty to shut that caller down – that is your responsibility in law.”
The AG pointed out that ignorance of the law is never a defence.
“If you don’t know well too bad, you will learn when you go in jail,” he bluntly stated on his weekly programme ‘Issues in the News’.
