A newly appointed Broadcasting Board yesterday received some lofty mandates from Prime Minister Perry Christie – find alternative sources of funding and unify a “splintered” Bahamas.
Heading the new board of the Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas is veteran broadcaster and a former general manager of the corporation, Calsey Johnson. He will work along with Freeport hotel executive, Mary Culmer; economist and financial analyst, Sharon Stuart and former educator Pastor Randy Frazer, of Pilgrim Baptist Temple.
Introducing the five-member board to the media, the Prime Minister foreshadowed the advent of more modernized, broadcasting legislation. And legislation to establish the Bahamas Broadcasting Commission is also expected to be brought to Parliament when the House of Assembly reconvenes in October.
According to Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe, who also has responsibility for ZNS, the government corporation must be restructured and repositioned.
“The Corporation must ameliorate its mandate and cast off the onerous distinction of being a financial drain on the government,” the Minister said.
From 1999 to 2001, the government contributed over $6 million in an effort to keep the radio and television station afloat. Last year, the corporation received $5.3 million.
This year, it has received a budget allocation of $4 million.
Whether or not that is a realistic amount remains to be seen, the Prime Minister said, before charging the board with the responsibility of “watching the affairs of the corporation to ensure that we are prudent and responsible in the expenditure of the funds.”
He also mandated board members to seek out alternative revenue sources and enhance revenue
collection with a view to narrowing the difference between revenue and expenditure.
Additionally he urged the board to unify the Bahamas.
Mr. Christie believes the nation has “splintered” and can only be reunited by “the one organ” that can reach everybody – ZNS.
The Prime Minister directed board members to “cause Bahamians to recognize that we passed the political season and for the next three years, at least, we should concentrate on building a better Bahamas and causing to bring about a brighter future for all Bahamians.”
Mr. Wilchcombe, a former ZNS news director, said he wants to see improvements in the quality of television and radio programs aired.
“The corporation, therefore, must be challenged to reassume its formally untenable position as an important instrument in the process of national development,” he noted.
Speaking to his appointments, the Prime Minister said he chose Mr. Johnson as chairman because he was a member of the “old school.”
“It is because of the experience and the judgment that he will bring to the table that I have agreed to his selection,” he explained.
The Prime Minister pointed out that Mr. Johnson, along with fellow broadcasters like Ed Bethel and Carl Bethel, were media representatives during “defining moments” in Bahamian history.
Their professional lives mirrored the growth of the government corporation, he said.
In appointing a member of the clergy to the board, Mr. Christie said the government is seeking to forge closer relations between the church and state as outlined in “Our Plan.”
The government is conducting a review of the country’s broadcasting laws. The process began while the Progressive Liberal Party was in opposition.
