The Future of ZIZ

Printed in The Observer, September 8, 1996



n its election Manifesto '95, the Labour Party stated its intent to "establish an independent Broadcasting Corporation to operate the present ZIZ Radio and Television facilities." Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas affirmed this commitment in a recent interview.

"ZIZ must become the national voice of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis," he said forcefully. Douglas anticipates a transition period of several years leading to privatisation. The establishment of an "independent broadcasting board appointed in a specific manner," will be the first step. During that time ZIZ will still be owned by the government. "We believe that it is better to have a transition period where it is independent but government-owned," Douglas stated.

Discussions have been underway for a number of months with Caribbean Communications Network (CCN) in Trinidad for management and technical assistance for ZIZ. CCN has owned the Express newspaper for many years and opened up TV 6, the first private television station in Trinidad, nearly five years ago. CCN has a "strong interest in developing Caribbean programming and networking" according to General Manager of Television Bernard Pantin.

Pantin is enthusiastic that "smaller stations no longer have to look north for management and technical expertise." He described CCN's interest as "contributing to an efficient, cost-effective, improved output, including an independent editorial position." A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed for a two year contract, but details must still be worked out. Pantin said CCN is waiting to hear back from the government and expects implementation to begin before the end of the year.

Stopping the Financial Drain

The transition period is when "CCN becomes important in terms of providing the necessary management skills," according to Douglas. "ZIZ must pay for itself," he said, noting that "thousands upon thousands of dollars are still out in the community" which have not been collected. Because of the accounting procedures used there is no way to determine how much money ZIZ loses each year, although everyone involved agrees that it is significant.

In preparation for CCN's involvement, a management team has been created. Headed by Director of Broadcasting Juni Liburd, it includes Program Manager Polly Manchester, Administrative Officer Levina Maynard, Chief Engineer Bertil Brown and Commercial and Accounts Manager Roland Archibald. A major goal of the team is to improve sales and marketing efforts.

The question of changing ZIZ's status is not new. It emerged as a major issue during the 1993 elections and led to the creation of a committee to investigate the conversion of "ZIZ into an independent commercially-run broadcast station," according to PAM leader Dr. Kennedy Simmonds. That committee, which was chaired by President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Ricky Skerritt, presented its report shortly before the 1995 elections. Their report included proposed legislation to make ZIZ independent.

Independent Programming?

The nature of the news and programmes which are aired is a central difference between a government-run station and one which is independent. Over the years, under both Labour and PAM administrations, criticisms have been voiced that only programmes approved by the government have been broadcast. Douglas says he would like to see this change.

"Government must have access to it so that government policies and programmes can be properly ventilated so that the people can be properly informed as to what government is doing in this country," the Prime Minister told The Observer. "At the same time, it should be accessible to all persons. It should be accessed by those who are in opposition, as well as by those who are in government. We believe that it is important to do this so we can develop dialogue, we can develop different point of views, we can develop a free press so that people can by their contending views shape public opinion and therefore influence decisions which are taken at the national level."

Douglas' plan involves waiting until after the CCN transition period before working out the particulars on privatisation. He expects that in the end "citizens will be able to buy shares" in the independent station.

A station with local input and local programming is Douglas' goal. "It must speak to our culture, our heritage and it must speak to the policies and programmes of government," he stressed. "It must become a peoples' station, the people must have access to it, there must be more call-in programs, programs that are more educational so that we can kept abreast not only of what's happening here but all over the world. It must be the pacesetter for the country as the spokesman for the government and therefore the people as a whole of this country."


ZIZ: For Whom Does it Speak?


Printed in The Observer, September 29, 1996

 



Can the government-owned broadcast station come to represent all the people of St. Kitts-Nevis, or will it remain a voice for the government of the day? The Labour Government has announced its intention to begin a transition process leading to the privatisation of ZIZ (see The Observer September 8-14, page 3). Discussions and preliminary steps have begun, but few significant changes have yet occurred on the ground.

One way to look at this issue is through the lens of the news and other programming which is currently presented on ZIZ. Ricky Skerritt chaired a committee appointed in 1994 by former Prime Minister Dr. Kennedy Simmonds to investigate the conversion of ZIZ into a statutory corporation. "Unfortunately, both the past government and the present government totally confuse public broadcasting with government information," Skerritt told The Observer. "ZIZ is in effect the Government Information Service," he added. Other members of that committee reported that their recommendations had included the creation of a special government information program , in order to separate that from the news. Former Governor Probyn Inniss said that in his opinion "the programming is a bit more fair" now than under the previous administration.



Intentions & Reality

Director of Broadcasting Junie Liburd remarked that "my natural inclination is put out everything that I get," while noting the tensioin between such a position and ZIZ's status as "a government broadcast station." Although he acknowledged that approval is needed on "some stories," Liburd believes that ZIZ is moving in the right direction. News Director Von Southwell said, "we try for balance, nothing has been placed in our way from doing that." General Manager Claudette "Polly" Manchester, who now directly oversees programming, reported that Prime Minister Douglas has always indicated his support for ZIZ broadasting a diversity of opinions.

Yet, anyone watching or listening to the news or other local programming will realize that there is little such diversity. Many of the news reports sound like government press releases, which is no surprise since they are often written by the Government Information Office. There is almost never any voice critical of government programme's or policies. And there is little visibility for citizens expressing dissent, or for opposition politicians. Valuable interviews with government Ministers are aired, but their value is minimised because the officials are never asked difficult questions, forced to justify government decisions or queried about the length of time between the announcement of projects and when they are completed.

The two biggest issues of public concern in recent months have been the extradition hearing and the state of the economy. While the extradition case has received international media attention, it has been covered only marginally by ZIZ. Reports on the economy rarely, if ever, include anything but the upbeat government perspective.



Why Not More Diversity?

The fact that ZIZ is still owned and controlled by the government is clearly part of the problem. Yet those who work at ZIZ, including professionals who have weathered their second government transition, continue to report in ways which don't upset the ship of state. "If we would just be bold enough to do it... If it's done in the interests of the nation, people will appreciate it," Manchester said enthusiastically. She and others pointed to "self-censorship" as a major problem. Discussions with ZIZ staffers also revealed that fear remains strong about what might happen if certain issues or viewpoints are covered.

"There's probably a need to delve a little deeper," Southwell agreed. He pointed to the limited staff of four full-time people in the news department, two of whom have only limited training and experience in journalism, as part of the problem. Others, outside of ZIZ, wonder why so many people work there. Any experienced journalist knows that it requires dedicated work to track down the full picture on a news story. One person associated with ZIZ, who wishes to remain anonymous, suggested that the more experienced staffers have grown too accustomed to operating in a one-sided news environment.

Press Secretary Erasmus Williams oversees both the Government Information Office and the ZIZ News Department. He described his role at ZIZ as "being sure it represents the Government's viewpoint , not keeping out other views." Although the stated purpose is to prevent duplication of efforts, others who work on news at ZIZ questioned whether Williams' dual role doesn't make it more difficult to report impartially.



Better than Before?

Dr. Kennedy Simmonds, PAM's political leader, claimed that press releases sent to ZIZ by his party have not been broadcast. He also recalled that during his government's day Labour criticized ZIZ for airing his speech at PAM's annual party convention, while this year ZIZ broadcast much more than just the Prime Minister's speech from Labour's convention.

Long-time ZIZ staffers noted that some positive changes were introduced under the 15 years of the previous government. Call-in programmes provided an opportunity for the general public to have their say on air. Additionally, in 1993 and 94, Christmas messages were broadcast from the leaders of all political parties on St. Kitts and Nevis. While the call-in programmes continue, the Christmas messages were not broadcast last year.

Many in the general public were hopeful that Labour's election would herald a new openness at ZIZ. They had grown tired of thePAM Government's political use of the nation's broadcast facilities. Unfortunately, many now feel that the cycle is merely repeating itself.

Prime Minister Douglas has spoken eloquently of the need to "develop a free press so that people can, by their contending views, shape public opinion and therefore influence decisions which are taken at the national level." Yet this vision is far from being realized at ZIZ. Without meaningful change in the way that the news and public affairs are covered by ZIZ, political partisanship and all its attending ills will continue to flourish in the Federation.