Vexed Bermoothes

Government is paying a public TV station in Pittsburgh $200,000 to be CITV’s mentor for a year. It seems an extraordinary sum given that Government is so determined to trim its media budgets elsewhere. The news release says:

CITV is operated under the Premier’s office and Dr. Brown is committed to creating a firewall between the government and producer.

Brown explained that “in-depth programming” of current issues in Bermuda is not being provided by commercial stations there, making a public TV station necessary.

“We’re taking steps to make sure there’s distance, that there’s creative freedom, so that CITV does not become simply a messenger for the government” said Dr. Brown.

We’ll see: the current PLP leadership are not great respecters of firewalls.

The fact that CITV is Government owned and operated immediately attracts suspicion. Most public TV channels are independently operated and funded by a mix of public dollars and “contributions from viewers like you.”

Competitive forces are one sure way to stop a public station from becoming a propaganda vehicle. Public TV must produce content that people want to watch; by contrast CITV is littered with shows produced by Government marketing Government. Yawn.

I maintain my opinion that, if Government was concerned about local programming, a body should have been set up to evaluate and fund proposals from independent producers. It would have cost a fraction of the sum. The truth is that the local TV channels have happily shown local content when it’s available. They just can’t afford to produce it! If local content was the goal, creating the CITV behemoth is an inefficient and risky way to get there.

In many respects, Renee Webb’s approach with FreshTV was better. If Government had stepped forward with even minimal funding for local content there, it would have made all the difference in creating a new independent local media outlet. For all its shortcomings, people wanted FreshTV to succeed. I don’t think people care about CITV.

Digital cable networks can tell how many people watch a channel. Dontcha think Cablevision should let us know the value we are getting for our tax dollars?