The Platform

  The analysis was brokered by a cadre of experienced observers of the Bahamian political scene. The team was anchored by Wendall Jones, a seasoned journalist and a keen observer of the Bahamian political scene. A format for television evolved out of this initial setting. What was the catalyst for the reception of this new programme? Out of this, a programme was born. It is this scenario which led to the creation of  the Platform.

  Since the inception of the government owned ZNS TV, the impact of local television programmes based on national issues has been negligible. There have been no local programmes which have addressed the challenges facing The Bahamas spiritually, culturally, socially, economically and politically.

  In eight weeks, JCN’s programming has caught the imagination of Bahamian viewers because The Platform and other programmes like Dialogue, NewsMakers and Island Lore have attempted to focus on these issues in an objective and impartial fashion.

  Bahamian television for the past three decades has been government owned and operated reflecting the political outlook of the government of the day. One of the deficiencies in local programming has been the lack of objective analysis on a wide spectrum of issues. In this broadcast environment, the viewing public generally looks as this with a jaundiced eye. In essence, programmes through a government controlled medium cannot have same credibility as the media in the private sector because a government owned and operated medium is skewed to satisfy the government’s agenda.

  The privatization of the airwaves has ushered in the establishment of radio stations on virtually every major island from Exumato Grand Bahama.The formats of these stations vary from adult contemporary, gospel, Caribbean music and other music genre. Now with private television joining private radio, the government should get out the broadcast business or redefine its role as a public broadcasting entity. Presently, the government is competing head to head with the private sector for the advertising dollar. Public broadcasting is presently heavily subsidized by the Bahamian taxpayer and this alone denotes its inability to compete. Without tax payer support the public broadcasting system would be in financial jeopardy.A new model for public broadcasting needs to be put in place.

Another factor which is affecting the competitiveness of the public broadcasting system is technology. In this era of information and communication technology, there are numerous vehicles for an individual to access information. There is the internet, web streaming, satellite transmission and the list goes on. It was yesteryear when governments could control the flow of information and the access to various forms of information; technology has been responsible for this transformation.

  In The Bahamas, television has the potential to become not only the most powerful medium in our society but also the medium with the most capacity to bring change to our society.

The reason stems from the fact that we are an oral people. With television, we are able to see and hear, hence television can be a change agent. For too long television has been a source of entertainment for our children and many adults. To cause a transformation of our society, a citizenry needs information.

The British wartime Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill remarked that a country which did not know its history did not know itself. Programmes like the Platform are geared to helping us know ourselves spiritually, culturally, socially, economically and politically.

It is easier to engage Bahamians into a conversation by television rather than reading over the Internet.

Print could give away to television as our dominant medium for examining ideas. Even though we had Bahamian television – ZNS TV for about three decades, it has not been a tool or mechanism for the examination of ideas or vehicle to help us know ourselves as a people and nation.