This post is written by my colleague and business partner, Dr. Nickesia Gordon. It reflects entirely my own views and sentiments on public broadcasting in Jamaica. Feel free to comment.
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Public service broadcasting as a concept is now several decades old and over the years it has come under a great deal of criticism globally. The accusations leveled at public broadcasting systems include paternalism, inefficiency, and more often than not, a compliant attitude to whatever government happens to be in power. Broadcasting in Jamaica, as in many ex-colonial countries, started out as a public service; however, it was criticism such as the ones mentioned above, enforced by WTO neo-liberal economic policies which promote market liberalization, that initiated the deregulation and eventual commercialization of broadcasting in these countries during the 1990s. Despite these disparagements, public service broadcasting has remained essential to the cultural and political life of Jamaica, its significance being heightened by the fact that increased private ownership of television media has led to an erosion of public or national information.
In 2007, public or cultural information accounted for less than one percent of national airtime on national commercial stations. This begs the question, should there be legal public service requirements placed on television media in Jamaica. At present, there is no clear policy regarding public service broadcasting in Jamaica. The only existing requirement is that national commercial stations are mandated to allot thirty minutes of airtime daily to government information, which is usually supplied by JIS, while cable companies are mandated, through a statutory requirement to reserve at least one channel for public service programming. However, the vagueness of this stipulation has led national commercial stations to programme government information during hours when viewership is at its minimum.
This agreement is therefore ineffective at promoting public information and can hardly be referred to as a policy of any kind. Given the market model that characterizes media management, it is unlikely that legal requirements will be imposed on private media. It will therefore have to be a task undertaken by the state. It is perhaps in recognition of this that the national government launched the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ) in July of 2006. The PBCJ was established by statute in 2002 as a system for public service broadcasting, offering public education, information and entertainment. One hundred and forty million Jamaican dollars or US$ 250,000 from the divestment of the JBC contributed to the establishment of the PBCJ (Jamaica Observer, March 29, 2006). However, despite its partial funding by the state, the PBCJ is to be predominantly financed by the private sector and civic organizations through donations and fund raising activates.
This may prove potentially problematic given that in media, there is a strong tendency for revenue sources to influence content. If the entity is to remain independent and dedicated to the production of local content, private sector interests may run counter to these ideals. Additionally, there is increasing resistance from the commercial sector against private funding of public service broadcasting. Arguments are made against such funding through complaints about ‘unfair competition,’ forcing respective governments to test the role and the financing of public broadcasters against free market principles. Hence, there are constant arguments being made for the reduction of the scope and resources of public broadcasting services. It is for this reason that the state must maintain strong support of the PBCJ.
Perhaps the contention about private funding of public service television could be addressed through the allocation of funding to public service programming and not necessarily the station only. That is to say, funding could be provided to independent content producers who could then create public information content that could be aired on the PBCJ. This could be in the form of a fund for programming with public service value which could be drawn on by independent producers in general. This is not dissimilar to proposals being made to the European Commission regarding the financing of public service broadcasting in Europe.
Along with the PBCJ, public broadcasting is carried out by the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) and Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC). The primary function of the latter is the dissemination of government information while that of the former is the recording of Jamaicans history and culture. Often, the manner in which these entities carry out their functions create overlaps, which has prompted calls for their merger or the disestablishment of one. However, each has a unique role to play, which becomes more apparent when each maintain their separate, distinct focus. As Dr. Hopeton Dunn (2000) maintains, the unity of the JIS and CPTC should be in their common portfolio ministry and not in the combination of their structures. What is perhaps more pertinent is that each become primary sources of content for the established PBCJ channel, especially in its infancy given the lack of local/informational content that exists and the current lack of financial backing for such programming from the private sphere.
In societies such as ours, media have an important role to play in the dissemination of critical information that affects the well being of its citizenry, issues such as HIV/AIDS, maternal health, human rights etc. Most current development policy rests on the belief that development works best when local inhabitants have a voice in their own development (DANIDA, 2005). Communication strategies can enable people to know and understand issues that affect them and can provide them with the means and spaces to articulate their own perspectives in public and political debate. Access or exposure to such information is an essential component in guaranteeing the success of such strategies. It is therefore important that media be oriented towards such information and where it is not, then the development and the general improvement of the lives of the Jamaican citizen are at risk.
