Would we create it if it did not exist? The evolution of public broadcasting in Jamaica

International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics Volume 3 Number 3.© Intellect Ltd 2007. Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/macp.3.3.215/1

Would we create it if it did not exist? The evolution of public broadcasting in JamaicaCinzia Padovani Southern Illinois University Carbondale

AbstractIn many western democracies, public service broadcasting institutions (PSB)have long been criticised, their legitimacy thwarted by technological, cultural andpolitical developments. However, while the future might appear bleak to thosewho have a ‘nostalgic vision’ of PSB, more encouraging and ‘forward-lookingvisions’ are possible. As an example of ‘forward-looking vision’, this paper looksat the evolution of public broadcasting in Jamaica from the establishment of theJamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) in 1962, to its dismantlement in1997, and to the formation of a new public broadcaster, the Jamaica PublicBroadcasting Corporation (PBCJ), in Spring 2006. Throughout this history, andnotwithstanding its many challenges, public service broadcasting continues to bea vital institution in Jamaican social, political and cultural life. Some of the ques-tions that spur from this complex history are: In an era characterised by the ever-expanding choice of media channels, while governments in wealthier countries aretrying to get rid of their PSB, why is a new public broadcaster being re-estab-lished in the Caribbean island? What are its characteristics? Finally, could thisattempt to recreate a public broadcaster in Jamaica be indicative of broader trendspointing to the necessity of preserving, or re-creating, public spaces in commer-cially saturated media environments? Although the lack of financial resources is amajor challenge for the newly born PBCJ, efforts to re-build a public broadcasterspeak to Jamaica’s continuous desire to create a valuable alternative to commer-cial media. Attempts to create an efficient and socially relevant institution ofpublic service broadcasting are discussed.

IntroductionIn many western democracies, public service broadcasting institutions (PSB)have long been under criticism, their legitimacy thwarted by technological,cultural and political developments. At the core of the critique, supported byindustry leaders, conservative politicians, and disgruntled taxpayers, is thenotion that those institutions are not necessary anymore. The advent of newdelivery technologies (especially digital delivery) de-legitimates the argumentin favour of public broadcasting based on spectrum scarcity, and the abun-dant choice of TV channels seems to show that the market can indeed providequality television. TV land does not have to be a ‘vast wasteland’:1 it can be,somewhere and for somebody, enlightening, entertaining, provocative.

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Keywordspublic service

broadcastingpublic mediaJamaican mediaCaribbean mediaJamaican TV

1. The ‘vast wasteland’metaphor was used in1961 by FederalCommunicationsCommissionChairman NewtonMinow as hedescribed thecondition ofcommercialbroadcasting in the United States.

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In an effort to survive, public broadcasters have attempted to fightback, to compete, and, overall, to play by the rules of the game by acquir-ing a language and a way of thinking that is commercially oriented. Manyof them, especially those in the heartlands of PSB, still command relevantportions of national audiences, but those audiences are steadily decreas-ing. The market is mature. Audience fragmentation and the rising costs ofvaluable content for TV will make it increasingly difficult for traditionalbroadcasters (public as well as commercial) to produce and/or broadcastshows that will attract vast audiences. The future, analysts predict, is inpay TV, which, some argue, might be the direction where even such ven-erable public broadcasters as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)might have to go, if they want to have a chance to survive (The Future ofthe BBC 2007: 49). This, however, would further undermine one of PSB’sfounding principles – universal availability.

In preparation for the advent of digital broadcasting, many govern-ments are redesigning their media regulations. Public broadcasters have amandate to support the transition from analogue to digital transmission,but they generally lack the necessary funds to be credible players in thenew digital television environment. The result is that, even in those con-texts (like in Western Europe) where they have been at the centre of anation’s cultural life, PSBs might slowly come to occupy more marginalpositions. No public broadcaster has been completely dismantled yet(indeed in the United Kingdom, for example, it still occupies a strong posi-tion), but, as Giuseppe Richeri provocatively asks, time is coming when wemight need to address the daunting question: ‘if public broadcasting didnot exist, would it be appropriate to create it?’ (Richeri 2007).

Public broadcasting in contextFor the most part, studies on PSB continue to focus on European broad-casters. Although this is understandable given the historical relevance ofPSB institutions in that part of the world, scholars working in non-European contexts have also emphasised the importance of looking beyondEurope and, as Elisabeth Jacka (2003) puts it, to study PSB institutionswithin the particular media ecologies where they exist. Since the early1990s, groundbreaking scholarship has identified worldwide trends thatseem to have negatively affected PSB (Rowland and Tracey 1990; Tracey1998); while others have underlined the importance of situating the study ofpublic broadcasting in a more ‘global context’ (Price and Raboy 2003: 181).

By looking at global trends, Raboy points out that there are two major‘ways to think about public media: . . . the nostalgic vision of the conven-tional . . . model . . . and a forward-looking vision focused on imaginingnew models . . . searching for new institutional forms for promoting thesevalues’ (Price and Raboy 2003: 182). In this paper, I look at one exampleof this ‘forward-looking vision’ as I explore the history, current conditionsand future visions of PSB in Jamaica.

PSB and democracyAccording to the dominant model for the study of PSB, the source of justi-fication for the existence of public media as relevant institutions for the

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advancement of democracy is their association with the notion of the‘public sphere’ (Garnham 1983, 1986, 1992). Various scholars, however,have criticised the historical reality of this ideal relationship: in particular,Jacka contends that the public sphere-public broadcasting model has often‘obscured the great diversity of forms that [PSB] takes at different sites’(2003: 188). In fact, if we analyse PSB in particular historical contexts,we find that even some of the most prestigious broadcasters have neverembodied the public sphere ideal (Padovani 2005). Although the idealmodel is that of a space protected from political as well as market influ-ence, questionable has been the interference that political parties and gov-ernments have often exercised over those institutions, the line separatingstate broadcasting from public broadcasting historically tenuous. The linkbetween public broadcasters and the public sphere becomes even moreelusive when we look at PSB in some emerging democracies and develop-ing countries where that association has been hardly tested against thereality of decades of oppressive political control over ‘state-broadcasting’(Heuva et al. 2004). Nevertheless, as Raboy emphasises, ‘[i]n new democ-racies of Africa, Asia and central and Eastern Europe the public broadcast-ing model is [being] seriously examined as an alternative to its strictlycommercial counterpart’ (Price and Raboy 2003: 182). As previouslystate-controlled broadcasters in some parts of the world are being remod-elled into credible alternatives to commercial media, lessons can be learntto help us trace ‘forward looking visions’ in public service broadcasting.

The development of public broadcasting in Jamaica represents, as I willdemonstrate in this essay, one of those cases. In the effort to shift from abroadcaster heavily influenced by the government of the day to a moreindependent one, there is forward thinking and a determination to createa ‘sustainable’ PSB model. What is most interesting in the Jamaican case isthe high level of creative engagement, on the part of leading intellectuals,media analysts and political observers, in the national debate surroundingthe conditions of the country’s public media. Clearly, positions and interestsdiffer; what is noteworthy, however, is the regard that public broadcastingcontinues to have in Jamaican cultural and political life. For example, asearch of the daily The Gleaner (Jamaica’s oldest newspaper) for ‘publicbroadcasting’ reported more than 250 relevant articles in the periodbetween January 2001 and April 2007. The same search for The NewYork Times reported only 120 articles related to the Public BroadcastingSystem (PBS).

Jamaica as a case studyThe reason why public broadcasting is so important within the Jamaicannational discourse lies in this country’s postcolonial history. Indeed, fromthe outset in 1959, public broadcasting has played a crucial role inJamaica’s attempts to create an autonomous culture and an appropriateset of institutions to support it.

The Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) was established a fewyears prior to the nation’s independence in 1962, and, after almost fourdecades, it was dismantled in 1997. During the years, the corporation,often accused by some of being too close to the political establishment, and

217Would we create it if it did not exist? The evolution of public broadcasting in Jamaica


by others for nurturing too much partisan journalism in its newsroom,greatly contributed to the cultural and social development of the countryby offering, as much as possible, local programs, and, once competitionbegan, an important alternative to an increasingly commercialised mediaenvironment.

Many were disappointed to see the JBC go. But whereas the dismantle-ment of the corporation might have appeared to some as the end of publicbroadcasting, that was not the case. In fact, in a rather confusing twist,while the government was busy divesting the JBC, it was also reassuringthe public that plans to reinstate a new public broadcaster were under-way.2 In fact, after nine years, in March 2006, the new Jamaica PublicBroadcasting Corporation (PBCJ) was formally reinstated.

‘Tremendous weaknesses’, as the PBCJ’s Chairman acknowledges (Wilson2007), accompany the birth of the new corporation. As policy makers andmedia analysts struggle with the lack of funds, some fundamental questionsare being asked. In an era characterised by the ever-expanding choice ofmedia content and channels, while governments in some wealthier coun-tries are trying to get rid of their PSB, why is a new public broadcaster beingre-established in Jamaica? And why, if the old JBC failed to maintain a‘respectable’ distance between its operations and political powers, should thenew one succeed? In this age of media digitalisation, do we still need a publicservice broadcaster, or shouldn’t we concentrate the resources in producingquality content for distribution on existing channels? Finally, could thisattempt to revive some sort of public service broadcasting in Jamaica beindicative of broader trends pointing to the necessity of preserving publicspaces in commercially saturated media environments?

Jamaica in contextAs it is known, Jamaica, and the wider Caribbean region, has been theoutpost of European colonisation efforts in the Americas, in particular ascentres for the slave trade. After centuries of foreign domination, Jamaicawas granted self-government in 1944 and achieved independence (althoughnot complete independence) from the British Empire in 1962. Two majorpolitical parties exist in the country, the socialist democratic People’sNational Party (PNP) founded by Norman Manley in 1938, and the JamaicanLabor Party (JLP), a right of centre party founded by Alexander Bustamantein 1943. A third party, the National Democratic Movement (NDM), a con-servative offshoot of the JLP, was established in 1995.

In Spring 2006, then Prime Minister Percival J. Patterson called forbipartisan consensus on issues that had long been standing in the way ofJamaica’s full sovereignty. The creation of a republican system of govern-ment, with a President, instead of the Queen, as head of state, and theestablishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice as the country’s ultimateappellate court. As the prime minister prepared to leave office, he alsoannounced that a new public broadcaster had been established. Thiswas another significant public display of the highly regarded role ofPSB, which is still considered a crucial instrument for promoting publicdebates about issues related to Jamaica’s development, including itsdecolonisation process.

2. The PublicBroadcastingCorporation ofJamaica wasestablished understatute in 1997,when the ‘PublicBroadcastingCorporation ofJamaica Act’ waspassed in Jamaica’sParliament.

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The media environmentIn Jamaica, as in the rest of the Caribbean nations, an ever-growingquantity of imported audio-visual products characterises the broadcastingmarket. These countries’ geographical position at the footstep of US televisionsatellites has, on one hand, facilitated the early and fast development ofthe satellite and cable TV industry; on the other, it has contributed to theslow growth of terrestrial free-to-air television stations. Indeed, accordingto Marcia Forbes, former General Manager of TVJ (one of the commercialbroadcasting channels in Jamaica), ‘the proliferation of cable has putbroadcasters in a serious dilemma as they deal with an audience with avery foreign sophisticated taste but little money’ (Forbes 2003). By May2007, there were 52 licensed cable operators in Jamaica and only threenational terrestrial television channels (TVJ, CVM and the religiouschannel Love TV).

The history of cable TV in Jamaica began in the early 1980s, whencable TV was offered as an amenity to hotel guests. Soon, in the absence ofan appropriate regulatory framework, these efforts developed into anindustry that consisted primarily of small, informal operations, whichmushroomed around the Kingston Metropolitan Region and in the denselypopulated dormitory community of Portmore in St. Catherine.

Legislation was slow to come. In December 1995, the government passedinto law an amendment to the Broadcasting and Radio-Re-diffusion Act togovern Subscriber Television policy, and in July 1998 the first cable com-panies were granted licences. From the outset, cable operators in Jamaicahave been forbidden from selling airtime to advertisers. Although a bill toallow advertising on cable went to Parliament in March of 2006, the draftlaw did not pass.

The growth of radio in Jamaica has been staggering (from 6 in 1997 to22 stations in 2007); and radio broadcasting commands approximatelytwo thirds of the national audience. Since early 2000, competition hasalso come from short-wave radio channels, which have been broadcastingvia local FM radio stations thus competing for broadcasting licenses. Oneexample is BBC FM, which was granted a broadcasting license in 2002.BBC FM is a ‘reflection of [the broadcaster’s] continuing . . . historicalinfluence . . . into the countries of the British Commonwealth . . . [and]has marked a resurgence in external influence’ (Dunn 2004: 77). Although,as media researcher Hopeton Dunn points out, ‘[a]udience preference forlocal interactive radio . . . seem[s] to indicate that . . . the medium . . . willremain strongly local and Caribbean in content and ownership’ (Dunn2004: 77), many observers continue to express concern for the ever-increasing influx of foreign audio–visual products.

Luxury or necessity?

Madam Speaker, we have a very urgent need for this public broadcastingsystem and I would want to ask the Minister to give some indications as towhen we are likely to be up and running. [A public broadcasting system] . . .is vitally necessary, it is urgent.

(Munroe 2001)



The attention to public service media in Jamaica, as well as in other membercountries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) including Barbados,Belize and St. Lucia, needs to be contextualised in an environment charac-terised by a high quantity of imported programs. Indeed, already by themid-1980s, with an average of 88 per cent imported content, the English-speaking Caribbean region was the ‘most penetrated region by foreigntelevision content in the world’ (Brown 1987: 21). In such an environ-ment, observers, analysts and politicians have considered public servicebroadcasting as a basic necessity, a fundamental institution to enhancethe region’s cultural identities, and provide information that is necessaryto the peoples’ well-being. An example of how highly public service broad-casting is valued in Jamaica can be found in Senator Trevor Munroe’saddress to the Jamaican Senate in 2001. During his speech he cam-paigned for rebuilding a public service broadcaster on the basis that it wasnecessary to provide some basic understanding of the impact of globalisa-tion on people’s lives. He said:

[T]here is so much that is happening now derived especially from the conse-quences of globalization where the farmers of Christiania, the workers in thesugar factory all across the country, the workers in the Bauxite Aluminasector, all segments of the public are at this moment seriously deprived of adeep understanding of the new global regime in which we find ourselves . . .[This is also why] we need to know when public broadcasting will be up andrunning.

(Munroe 2001)

Whereas in some wealthier democracies public broadcasters are increas-ingly seen as unnecessary, in a country like Jamaica public broadcasting isa basic necessity.

Historical backgroundRadio broadcasting in Jamaica started in the 1930s as a commercialenterprise, but during WWII the government took over its operations inorder to ‘maintain the morale of the population and provide governmentinformation’ (Dunn 2004: 76). In 1949, the British Rediffusion Groupacquired the radio station and named it Radio Jamaica Rediffusion (RJR).The fact that Radio Jamaica was in the hands of a British corporation wasreason for concern, especially when it came to its content, which was‘very un-Jamaican’ (Maxwell 2003). The growing nationalist sentiments,the movements for independence, and the ideals of social developmentchampioned by one of Jamaica’s founding fathers, Norman Manley (ChiefMinister of the colony and then Premier during the ‘dominion’ status from1959 to 1962), called for a new broadcasting entity that would be able torepresent Jamaica to Jamaicans and bring to the fore issues of significanceto the people in the region. Intellectuals and policy makers argued infavour of establishing a public, government owned, broadcaster and inDecember 1958, the Manley administration passed legislation to establishthe JBC as a ‘state-owned and statutory corporation’ (Eaton 1971: 169).Its main goal was to promote ‘public education and entertainment as well

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as [to] encourage . . . Jamaican native talent’ (Nettleford 1971: 188).Indeed, in Manley’s ‘socially oriented’ style of development, public educa-tion and radio broadcasting were crucial. Social development, Manleybelieved, was the conditio sine qua non for any economic development.

Encouraging local talents was crucial. In fact, the only existing radiobroadcaster, RJR, was mostly interested in selling listeners to advertisers,and its broadcasts would consist primarily of foreign, especially American,shows and music. Although Jamaicans would work in the radio station ashosts or DJs, Jamaican accents, even less Patois English, were not allowedon the air.3 Therefore, the advent of JBC Radio (inaugurated in 1959) wasnothing short than revolutionary. John Maxwell, the first employee in theJBC Radio newsroom, details some of the achievements of those times:

We started a lot of programs that people wanted. There was a comedy show,a Jazz orchestra, a classical music group, we had a studio built for musicrecording and for musical programs. We had a director of music which was,up to that time, a totally unknown phenomenon in this part of the world . . .We started paying a lot of attention to agriculture and farmers . . . RadioJamaica was satisfied with reaching people around Kingston but peoplewanted radio stations so that everyone in Jamaica could hear it and evenpeople in Costa Rica and Nicaragua could hear us.

(Maxwell 2003)

The newly established public radio station was in fact instrumental in sup-porting the booming music recording industry. In its early years, JBC radioprovided an important forum for local ska musicians thus contributing tothe growing legitimacy of Jamaican music. The facts that Jamaicans werenow able to listen to their own music, their own talk shows, and their ownJamaican accent on radio broadcasts, were important reasons for the star-tling initial success of public broadcasting. Maxwell recalls: ‘what we dis-covered when we started using Jamaican music, and Jamaican speech, andnews [was] that people started turning away from RJR . . . and [JBC]began to overtake it and . . . did overtake it, and listenership went up con-siderably’ (Maxwell 2003).

Representatives of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC,Canada’s PSB), were invited to help set up the JBC. Although the BBCmodel was considered (i.e., a broadcaster protected by a Royal Charterfrom government interference and financed entirely by license fees), it wasnot deemed appropriate given the dire economic conditions of the newnation. Therefore, the Jamaican Broadcasting Corporation Act establishedthat, after an initial period during which funds would come from thepublic purse, eventually the corporation would find ways to financeits own operations through commercial means. The JBC’s mandate wasto follow the usual public service mission of providing information,education, entertainment and, in addition, it had the crucial role ofshifting Jamaicans’ ‘centre of existence [away from England] to Jamaica’(Nettleford quoted in Salmon 1996). The PNP-led government was socommitted to the new radio station that Manley was prepared to fund itsoperations ‘as a public service forever, if necessary’ (Salmon 1996) in

3. ‘Jamaican accent’ isan oversimplificationof the complexgrammatical and syntacticalcharacteristics ofPatois English widelyspoken in Jamaica,especially in the ruralareas. I imagine thatas radio talk showsand call-in showsbecame more popularand radio stationsbegan to cover thewhole island, PatoisEnglish, not merelyJamaican accent,gained exposure andrecognition. Todaythere is still very littleJamaican languageon air, which isshunned by on-airpersonalities, exceptin the highly popular‘dancehall’ music.



order to maintain a strong presence of Jamaican made products on theairwaves.

Differently from the ideal BBC model, but not unique in its fundingstructure, the JBC was given a complex, although not necessarily impossi-ble task: to accommodate its public service obligations while at the sametime being commercially viable; to fund its way through while providingthe kind of programming that would be inspiring, uplifting and Jamaican.This, thanks to the government’s political and financial commitment, wasinitially possible. Successive governments sporadically funded JBC’s opera-tions and when funds were drastically reduced in the early 1980s, themission of the corporation became unbearable. At that point – The Gleanerobserves – ‘the decline began when the [JBC] was expected to compete com-mercially yet function as a national broadcasting entity producing pro-gramming with limited commercial appeal’ (Public broadcasting 2001).

Things, of course, had already become difficult with the advent oftelevision, an enterprise by its very nature more expensive than radio.JBC Television was inaugurated on 6 August 1963, the first anniversaryof Jamaica’s independence. At first, television, like radio, was supposedto have a mixed revenue source: government subsidies and advertising.However, given the government’s lack of funds to finance JBC TV’s start upoperations, and the inability on the part of the local private sector to par-ticipate in the venture, the government selected a Scottish consortium,which included various international broadcasting corporations, as the‘[o]rganization with the necessary expertise and capital’ (Text of MinistryPaper on Television 1962), to lay out the necessary investments to financethe birth of TV.

From the beginning, one major challenge was to fill airtime with qualityprogramming that would also attract the critical mass audience soughtafter by advertisers. Although some argue that a choice was made to care-fully select quality programs from abroad,4 others contend that the Scottishconsortium of private broadcasters was only preoccupied with recuperatingits investments and that, although no cost-benefit analysis was done tocompare local vs. foreign programming, it was deemed necessary to ‘pur-chase cheap imported [content]’ (Salmon 1996). Although the JBC hadbeen originally set up to represent ‘Jamaica to Jamaicans’, soon a heavydiet of imports mined at the foundation the public broadcaster’s legitimacy.According to The Gleaner, during its first years of operation, approximately75 per cent of JBC’s programs were purchased from the United States andthe United Kingdom (The advent of television in Jamaica 2003).

Political turmoilPolitical interference in the affairs of the JBC was intense. The absence ofclear legislation separating the government of the day from the corporation,and a mandate to make a profit while offering quality TV, left the broad-caster particularly vulnerable to political manoeuvrings.

The beginning of political troubles coincided with the advent of televisionbroadcasting and the change in the country’s leadership. The newlyappointed government elected in 1962, led by Alexander Bustamante of theJLP, a party that had been a vociferous critic of the JBC for its supposedly

4. As it was reported in ‘The advent oftelevision in Jamaica,”The Gleaner, 14 September 2003.

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pro-PNP bias, accused the newsroom of criticising the government andbeing ‘disrespectful’ of its leaders (Maxwell 2003). Clashes between thegovernment and the newsroom became frequent. Journalists not in linewith dominant positions were fired, and in 1964 the JBC newsroomorganised one of the longest strikes in Jamaican history. Although theworkers were able to positively sensitise public opinion to their cause, bythe end of the strike most of the newsroom staff had been dismissed.

ProgrammingThe amount of foreign content, especially on TV, continued to increase. Ata time when the government, although strongly nationalist, openly sup-ported the United States, the JBC made ‘the same mistake that had beenmade before’ (Maxwell 2003), which meant less music and less Jamaicannews. And when political antagonism reached points of extreme violence,the government led by Bustamante’s successor, Hugh Shearer (1967–1972)of the JLP, implemented highly repressive measures, even inside the broad-caster. As part of its tactics to maintain ideological control, the ShearerAdministration ‘manipulated the JBC by covering the government in afavorable light and banning songs protesting social and economic condi-tions . . . as well as those deemed . . . supportive of the PNP’ (Stephensand Stephens 1986: 63). Demonstrations of political dissent, including the1968 riots in support of Black Power movement’s leader Walter Rodney,hardly received any coverage and highly regarded journalists close to themovement were banned from the JBC’s newsroom (Maxwell 2007).

Meanwhile, the lack of domestic programs had become such a concernthat the Jamaica Broadcasting Authority (the governing body of the JBC)‘berated JBC TV for the dearth of local programming’ (Salmon 1996). In1972, when The Wailers were working on their album ‘Catch A Fire’ –which would become a global hit in 1973 – many Jamaicans had not evenheard of Bob Marley (Maxwell 2003).

A new eraThe government led by the JLP stayed in power until February 1972, whenNorman Manley’s son Michael took the reins of the country in the midst ofone of the worst economic and political crises the nation ever faced. Theparty ran at the 1972 elections criticising the JLP for having been unableto curb crime and corruption, and for having ‘abuse[d] . . . the government-owned Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation’ (Persuad 2001: 135). The PNPwon the elections with a landslide, as Manley was able to galvanise thevoters ‘with hope and vision after a decade in which the legitimacy of thestate had been severely eroded’ (Persuad 2001: 135).

The new government’s determination to follow a Third Path to devel-opment, characterised by an independent economy, was at the foundationof Manley’s interest to use the JBC as a vehicle for nation building. In sucha scenario, domestically produced programs were key. The governmentallocated money for radio and TV broadcasting and indeed the quantity ofJamaican made programs increased. One of the most significant radiopublic affair programs of this period was the Public Eye, a talk show thatcontributed to changing important national labour policies in favour of



low-paid workers. The public affairs department of JBC TV also producedmany documentaries and extended news features on various subjectsof interest. Attention was given to entertainment programs as well, likeLime Tree Lane, the first Jamaican made soap opera, and Music andYouth, presenting young Jamaicans through music. Thanks to the JBC’sefforts of those years, the notion that Jamaicans could ‘produce materialthat [was] attractive for our people to see [became] an established fact’(Angela Patterson 2003).

Regional structureA decentralised structure was obviously a very important part of the publicbroadcaster’s mission to reach out to local communities. After all, one ofthe reasons why the JBC had been established was to provide an alterna-tive to RJR, which was oblivious of rural communities. Jamaica is a veryrugged country, and although small, it has proven to be a challenge toensure universal coverage. In order to support the development of ruralareas, three regional services were set up: Radio West in Montego Bay,Radio Centra in Mandeville, and Radio North in Ocho Rios. Althoughshortly lived, this was an important experiment as ‘it opened people’s eyesto the way in which you could have community broadcasting as part ofyour whole public service broadcasting mandate’ (Gill 2003).

The divestment of the JBCThe commitment to domestic programs became increasingly difficult for avariety of reasons, primarily political and ideological ones. Media researcherAggrey Brown called for regulatory methods and cost subsidies as ‘the onlypossibility for reversing the trend’ (Brown 1987: 20) of massive imports.However, that was not on the agenda of the new government.

JLP leader, US-born Edward Seaga, succeeded Manley in 1980 and hadan unwavering commitment to promote Jamaica’s economic progress bybecoming the ‘cornerstone’ of the Reagan Administration’s CaribbeanBasin Initiative program,5 and by accepting the support of internationalfinancial institutions, like the International Monetary Fund and the WorldBank. To qualify for loans, Jamaica had to abandon its pro-Cuban posi-tions of the 1970s, and show a commitment to the Structural Adjustmentmodel of economic development, which was built upon the belief that theonly ‘ostensible “engine of growth” . . . [was] the private sector’ (Brown1995: 310). Imports liberalisation, rather than cost subsidies and regula-tory methods to favour domestic production, was the key of Seaga’s strat-egy for economic growth.

The Structural Adjustment model required the privatisation of previ-ous public services and state monopolies, and of course, the JBC was oneof them. The divestment process began by selling off the regional radiostations: commercial radio stations Radio Waves, Irie-FM and KLAS-FMreplaced the community-based public stations Radio West, Radio NorthEast, and Radio Central, respectively. In the meantime, another ‘adjust-ment’, this one of a political nature, was made inside the JBC when‘the station dismissed its entire news and public affair staff ’ (Maxwell NoDate: 258) for being too critical of conservative positions. In 1981, out of

5. After the Cubanrevolution of 1959,the Sandinista andNicaraguanrevolutions of 1979and 1980, and thepro-Cuban politicalatmosphere inJamaica of the 1970s,the United Statescould not furthertolerate anysemblance ofsocialism in theirbackyard. A ‘tool ofcontainment’, knownas the CaribbeanBasin Initiative, wasdesigned ‘as a meansof responding tocommunist-inspiredrevolution through acomprehensive tradeand aid policy’(Dypski 100).

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21 newsroom staffers, thirteen were laid off; and by 1985 more jobs hadbeen axed. Journalists in line with the dominant political ideology werehired and in fact, throughout the 1980s, the PNP, then in opposition, com-plained that the JBC newsroom was biased in favour of the government.

Meanwhile, the proliferation of satellite TV was spurring competitionfor audiences attracted to American products. In fact, when the transitionto color transmission was made, the Seaga’s government ‘chose the systembeing used in [the United States] based on the premise that that is where[the JBC] would be getting most of [its] material’ (The advent of television,2003). Not only was the amount of foreign programming reaching unprece-dented levels, the on-going process of de-regulation was also failing topromote pluralism in the market place. By 1989, apart from the mostlyillegal cable operations, JBC TV was the only free-to-air broadcaster, JBCradio and RJR were the only national radio stations, and The Gleaner wasthe only national newspaper.

Unhappy with Prime Minister Seaga for failing to deliver on his promisesof economic prosperity, voters re-elected Michael Manley in the 1989 elec-tions. Although his anti-American positions, bluntly critical of US foreignpolicy, would still, at times, make international headlines,6 his once ferventdemocratic socialism had tempered considerably. The Manley administra-tion proceeded with the on-going privatisation plans and, in 1990,granted the first commercial license for television broadcasting to CVM TV.Changes were also occurring inside the JBC to address the decades-oldproblem of political bias and government’s interference. In fact, until1993, the JBC had been led by a General Manager (GM) appointed bythe board of the corporation on the recommendation of the Minister ofInformation. This had created a rather unstable situation because, at anychange of government, the GM could be easily removed and the corporation’scontrol would go to whoever was in power. The direct influence of the gov-ernment of the day in the internal affairs of the JBC had contributed to thesense that the corporation, rather than a public broadcaster, was a statecontrolled entity, and that this had ‘affected its credibility and . . . the way[in which it] was perceived in the country as a whole’ (Robinson 2003).7The JBC Amendment Act of 31 October 1991 detailed provisions tochange the appointing procedures of the governing board. The Act estab-lished that a Director General (DG) would replace the GM, and that his/herappointment would be removed from the direct interference of the govern-ment of the day. Instead of the spoil system that had dictated appointmentsuntil then, a sort of lottizzazione Italian style was implemented where eachparty would be able to nominate its own candidates.8 According to ClaudeRobinson, JBC’s Director General at the time, these changes were success-ful to the point that, during the pre-1993 general election period, for thefirst time in its history, the newsroom was not ‘accused by the oppositionparty of being a campaign tool for the government’ (Robinson 2003b).

FundingDuring the 1990s, proposals were made to save the JBC from being divested.One suggestion was that, of the two public radio stations, one would befunded with advertising money and the other with public funds. Other

6. For instance, MichaelManley’s criticism ofthe U.S.-led invasionof Panama spurredinternationalattention and was the cause of a standstill in diplomaticrelationships betweenthe two countries. See Robert Pear,‘Jamaica CriticizesPanama Invasion’,The New York Times,January 30, 1990.

7. Claude Robinson was former General Manager(1990–1993) andthen Director General (1993–1997)of the JBC.

8. Lottizzazione refers tothe parceling out ofpositions of poweramong politicalparties within theItalian public servicebroadcaster. Thissystem encouraged a certain ‘internalpluralism’ afterdecades of one-partyrule over thecorporation. Thesystem that was set in place in theearly 1990s in theJBC bore someresemblance to theItalian system in that it attenuated the control of theparty or coalition in power. However,although both Italyand Jamaica havebeen highly politicisednations, the level ofpolitical violence thatmarred the Caribbeanisland during the1970s and 1980swas unprecedented.Frequent episodes ofpolitical violence,often deadly, werecommon. Even BobMarley, considered asupporter of MichaelManley, was woundedby gun shots two daysprior to his 1976Smile Jamaica concert



alternatives were presented to address the financial problems of JBC butnone went through:

The next proposal was to introduce cable as a subscriber TV. We’d introducecable . . . and we had a very elaborate plan for that, and then the revenuefrom cable would be used to subsidize public broadcasting. [But] thatrequired substantial investments [for] introducing cable as well as infrastruc-tures and modernisation.

(Robinson 2003a)

The cost of modernising the JBC’s transmission facilities and productioncapabilities was estimated at $3 million but, for the government, that wastoo much. The next alternative was privatisation. Robinson recalls:

For me it was a mixed thing because I felt . . . that we had an opportunitywith the restructuring to provide a good set of public service programmingalong with a commercial venture that would include cable and otherrevenue generating products. This [was] a plan that we had developed over aconsiderable time with some outside experts and accountants and econo-mists and bankers and it was a plan that our bankers would support . . .[A]t the time when JBC was being privatized . . . the gap [in] revenuebetween what we were earning and the cost of operations was in the order ofmaybe 10 percent. We had even identified ways to close the gap throughefficiencies . . . We had a good plan, one that could have married the bestaspects of public broadcasting with a commercial liability.

(Robinson 2003a)

In the end, the corporation failed to have the political support that itneeded and its dismantling was announced on 12 June 1997. Accordingto the former GM and other observers, the long history of political inter-ference and the political bias of the JBC’s newsroom were the main ele-ments in the government’s decision to divest. As Robinson emphasised,‘the final decision to divest was based on the view that government shouldnot continue to put money into a station that it did not control’ (Robinson2006). Former GM of JBC Radio during those years, Gladstone Wilson,agrees:

After a while the station outlived its usefulness to the politicians. Because . . .we were shifting emphasis for more participation at the political level of allsociety . . . [W]hen the politicians saw that we were not behaving as weshould they dispensed of [us].

(Wilson 2007)

After private consultations between the government and the RJR leader-ship, the JBC’s most valuable assets (JBC TV and Radio2), together withmuch of its audiovisual archives, were sold to the competitor.9 The govern-ment retained Radio1’s license and its studios to use for future publicservice broadcasting operations, but over time Radio1’s equipment deteri-orated and became useless.

in Kingston,presumably becauseof his politicalaffiliation.

9. By that time, the RJR had changedownership. Duringthe 1970s, MichaelManley’s governmenthad acquired RJRfrom the British Re-diffusion group. A model of ‘sharedownership’ wasapplied: trade unions,the Church, creditunions and theprivate sector becamemajority owners ofthe media company;the governmentcontrolled 25 per centof the shares. Asimilar model is inplace today (althoughthe government hassince then divested itsshares): the TradeUnion Congress ofJamaica, the NationalUnion of CooperativeSocieties, the NationalTeachers Association,and the JamaicaCooperative CreditUnion League areamong the ten largestshareholders of RJR(Radio JamaicaLimited, 56th AnnualReport 2003/2004, p. 4).

226 Cinzia Padovani


In the meantime, plans were being made to establish a new publicservice broadcaster. Initially, the idea was to create a broadcaster thatwould be funded entirely by the public purse, but the government was notclear as to where the money would come from. Many were sceptical: ‘If thegovernment didn’t have the money to put into JBC, where were they goingto find the money to put into another thing that would have been entirelynon-commercially driven?’ (Angela Patterson 2003). This question lin-gered over the discourse on public broadcasting over the next several yearsas the process of rebuilding a new entity slowly proceeded. The lack of aclearly defined budget and funding structure were the main reasons forthe lack of credibility in the government’s plans.

However, amidst this confusion, it seemed, at least to some, that theideological battle between those who wanted to secure a totally marketdriven broadcasting sector, and those who called for a public broadcastingsystem that ‘could [continue to] build a national ethos for cultural devel-opment’ (Urgent Call for public broadcasting system) had been won by themarketers. This, however, was not the whole truth. In effect, a strugglemore profound than the pro-market vs. pro-public service diatribe was atplay: it was a struggle about what public service broadcasting meant forJamaica. What is the appropriate relationship between public service jour-nalists and political powers? How could independence be achieved? Shouldthe government be involved in commercial broadcasting (JBC was a com-mercially driven corporation) or should public service broadcasting befuelled entirely by public money? In the absence of a public broadcaster,debates on the need of having one continued for years. In fact, the originalidea of public broadcasting, which meant ‘representing Jamaica to Jamaicans,[remained] a fairly consistent position of the administrations over theyears’ (Jankee 2003). As one of my respondents put it:

There has always been a strong tradition here . . . in terms of how people feelabout [public broadcasting]. Aligned to that [at the time of the divestment]there was a perception that in order to protect and represent the public interestthe government had to be involved somehow in broadcasting . . . Whetheryou were from the left or the right, there has been very little question andlittle controversy about this

(Jankee 2003)

All seemed to agree on the importance of public broadcasting. The ques-tion was, what would this new PSB look like?

The making of sustainable public televisionThe PBCJ’s mandate, which was established in the PBCJ Act of 1997, was‘to air programmes that educate and train the masses, disseminate newsand information, protect the environment, develop literacy and artisticexpressions, develop culture, human resources and sports and respect forfundamental rights and freedoms’ (Davidson 2006). However, while amandate was in place, plans to set up the new broadcaster proceededslowly as the crucial issue of how to fund and administer it remainedvague. The government had agreed to finance the new PSB for the first



two years, but it was unclear where it would collect the necessary funds10

and exactly how the broadcaster would finance its way after that.Furthermore, this financial arrangement seemed too similar to the onethat had been in place for the defunct JBC. If that had failed, why wouldthis one succeed? Finally, in early 2001 the Information Minister SenatorMaxime Henry-Wilson announced that $50 million had been allocated forthe first year of the PBCJ’s operations. At the same time, the Parliamentapproved the Regulations to the Public Broadcasting Corporation of JamaicaAct, which ‘paved the way for the appointment of the members of thecorporation’ (A vision for prosperity, 2001). A new board was appointedbut the fact that most of its members had no prior experience in broad-casting further delayed the plans. Commenting on the process of creatingthe new public broadcaster, the PBCJ’s chairman laments: ‘It has been likeasking school teachers to build the Eiffel Tower’ (Wilson 2007): almostan impossible process. Finally, the PBCJ inaugurated its transmissions on16 October 2006, Jamaica’s ‘Heroes Day’. Given that the corporation isstill building up its programming capabilities, it is not yet able to broadcaston a regular basis.

GovernanceOne major challenge is making sure that this new entity will not be asdependent on the government of the day as its predecessor. In an effort toprevent this, it was decided that the Governor-General appoints the boardmembers after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of theOpposition, and on the recommendation of different organisations, includ-ing the Anglican Church and the Rastafarian movement. According to thePBCJ’s Chairman this was done primarily to:

[G]et the organization . . . away from political influence. That was a problemwith the JBC . . . whose board members appointed by the minister were inbare contact with the minister and therefore you would have that kind ofpolitical interference that is undesirable.

(Wilson 2007)

The fact that the Rastafarian movement – historically marginalised by thecultural and political elites – is being called to make recommendations onmembers of the PBCJ’s board is extraordinary: an important sign of thechanges in the official attitude towards Rastafarianism. This also meansthat a lot of thinking is being put into creating a public broadcaster that ismore representative of the various communities and cultures in Jamaica.

Although PBCJ will obviously have ‘some association with the office ofthe Prime Minister and the Minister of Information, [it will be] a collabora-tive relationship rather than an instructional relationship’ (Wilson 2007).This is very important also in terms of the corporation’s ability to makeprogramming decisions, as it should remove the PBCJ from the arena ofpartisan politics. This way, the chairman hopes that the corporation ‘willnot feel the political heat on [its] shoulders’. Sonia Gill, at the media regu-latory body, the Broadcasting Commission, agrees. According to her, theindependence of the board members is supported by the ‘bi-partisan method

10. Sonia Gill says that‘for quite some time it has been mootedthat 5 percent of theannual license feepaid by cable operatorto the BroadcastingCorporation should beused to support publicservice broadcasting’(Gill 2007b). It seemsa good idea, which,however, has yet to be implemented.

228 Cinzia Padovani


of appointment and by the fact that board members are only likely to beremoved for cause’ (Gill 2007a).

FundingFunding will primarily be provided through a budgetary allocation directlyfrom the Government of Jamaica, an expedient to remove such a delicateissue from the direct control of any particular ministry. Indeed, accordingto the PBCJ’s chairman, the start up money that has been granted so farcomes with ‘no strings attached’. In addition, the PBCJ is the beneficiary ofwhat is left of the assets of the JBC. More funding should come from theprivate sector and civic organisations, although exactly who those organi-sations will be, remains to be seen. According to former Prime MinisterP.J. Patterson, the corporation is ‘expected to promote synergies at alllevels. While sponsorship and funding potential of the market may have tobe shared, the PBCJ should be operating in an inclusionary fashion as atruly national player and facilitator in an industry that is still growing’(Patterson 2006). This is probably a hint of the importance of sharingresources with other players and becoming a socially relevant institution.The PBCJ’s Chairman confirms that the corporation is working on a‘formula that will reduce [the broadcaster’s] dependence on the publicpurse’ (Wilson 2007). Reducing that dependency does not mean, however,that the corporation will be totally independent from the public purse. Infact, ‘there needs to be some kind of backing from the public in order tocall it a public service broadcaster’ (Wilson 2007).

Delivery and programmingThe legislation regulating cable TV establishes a ‘must-carry’ rule forcable providers to carry a ‘channel for public service and educationalprogrammes’.11 The PBCJ, however, will still have to pay for the means ofdistribution and negotiate with each cable operator in order to get itschannels delivered to cable subscribers across the island. By May 2007,PBCJ had reached agreements with only three cable providers. This is aproblem that as a public broadcaster must be universally accessible.

Building up programming output is another major challenge. GraceTurner, former CEO of the PBCJ, promised that the corporation would ‘seekto broadcast family-oriented programmes, but also give Jamaicans a tasteof the past, using the more than 40,000 tapes it inherited from the nowdefunct . . . JBC’ (Davidson 2006). This is obviously not enough, alsobecause what remains of those archives has still to be digitised.

Forward visionsSome important questions remain. One of them is whether it is necessaryto have a public broadcaster, or would it be sufficient to concentrate theresources on production centres, whose products could then be broadcaston cable channels. According to Claude Robinson it is necessary to:

pull together the public media resources . . . scattered in [the] PublicBroadcasting Corporation of Jamaica, [and] the CPTC . . . All these entitiesshould be merged into a single non-partisan public media company capable

11. According toRegulation 17 (1) (g)(ii) of the Televisionand SoundBroadcastingRegulations whichrequires that all STV (Subscriber TV,or cable) operators‘provide at least onechannel for publicservice andeducationalprogrammes’.



of offering something other than the offerings of media driven by commercialconsiderations.

(Robinson 2007)

The Creative Production and Training Center (CPTC) to which Robinsonrefers was established in 1984, and is a multi-media production and train-ing facility with a mission to produce local audiovisual products and trainlocal talents. The publicly owned company became the JBC’s productionarm and, since the broadcaster’s divestment, has continued to function asa media house. Since December 2002, the CPTC has its own channel, CTV,on cable stations. Some say that what the CPTC does is not sufficient andthat its channel ‘carries programs of low quality that nobody cares towatch’ (Smith 2003). Nevertheless, the CPTC is one of the few productioncentres in the island, and its activities are important. The question then ishow to best ‘pull together’ the CPTC’s resources with those of the PBCJ.Would CPTC return to its original role as a production organisationfeeding the transmission of PBCJ? Or would it be vice versa where PBCJdoes its productions and CPTC becomes the main carrier of public broad-casting programs? Certainly, according to the PBJC chairman, the twoentities should engage in collaborative efforts, especially when it comes torealise big productions. The big question remains as to whether the broad-caster will have to ‘forget its ambitions about transmission’ (Wilson2007), become a content provider, and continue to make arrangementswith cable operators to carry its channel.

The PBS modelThe American PBS model, whose survival is increasingly dependent uponsoliciting grants, involving foundations and commercial sponsorship inthe making of public television and radio, is the one that the PBCJ islooking at for its long-term survival. But differently from PBS’ bureau-cratic structure, often criticised for its inefficient and ‘Balkanized’ nature(Tracey 1995: 14), the PBCJ will be small. ‘Minimalist’, says its chairman.

As is the case with the American PBS, having mass appeal is not oneof the PBCJ’s major concerns. Already in 1998, The Gleaner reportedthe then Minister responsible for Information matters, Senator MaxineHenry-Wilson, saying that the new PSB would only ‘deal with local andregional issues, and not popular television content’ (Henry-Wilson 1998).However, there seems to be a substantial difference between PBS andthe PBCJ model. Gladstone Wilson wants to build a broadcaster that willbe relevant, and believes that PBCJ will be able to do so if it can offer awide range of programming, including different music genres, to representa diverse Jamaica. However, when asked about his plans for entertainmentprograms, his answer was that there is no need for the public broadcasterto get into entertainment, unless there is something ‘really good’. Hisvision, Wilson said, is to look at what PBS does: a variety of ‘respectable’,but not necessarily mass appealing, programs paid for, in part, by grantsand underwriting.

Although there is some paternalism and elitism in these propositions –PBS has an audience share of less than 2 per cent and a tradition of

230 Cinzia Padovani


looking disdainfully to popular television – there seems to be a definiteconcern in the words of the PBCJ’s chairman to make sure that the publicis interested in what PBCJ will produce and that the broadcaster tap intothe interests of the various communities. In this lies an important distinc-tion between the PBCJ and the PBS model.

Minimalist vs. marginalAlthough Wilson’s point of reference seems to be the PBS system, his com-ments about creating a minimalist and at the same time relevant broad-caster seem to point toward something different. In fact, although seekingmass appeal might not be what PBCJ is after, being relevant, which meansbeing part of the national cultural, social and political discourse, is. On thecontrary, the US public broadcasting system has rarely been a relevantplayer in the national dialogue (Tracey 1995: 6). The question, for thePBCJ then, is this: how can it take an active role in the social, political, andcultural debates in Jamaica, while being a minimalist institution? The cor-poration’s chairman has some ideas:

I think PBCJ can be a vibrant entity if it has a spectrum of programming. Todo that, we would have an opportunity of involving local producers produc-ing things outside the organization. Ideally 50 per cent of what we do[should be done by outsiders] . . . this is where PBCJ will be more dynamicthan any other entity that might want to get into the business of publicbroadcasting.

(Wilson 2007)

The new broadcaster will have to move fast and stay small: a ‘minimalist’broadcaster if it wants to be a sustainable one. Obviously, the era of big,free-to-air broadcasters, with huge budgets and lots of cash, is a thing ofthe past. The new model emphasises fluidity and a definite commitment toreach out to other organisations, including independent local producers andcommunities, and promotes exchanges of programmes with other publicbroadcasters around the world. Perhaps, if this can be done, PSB in Jamaicahas a future.

Conclusions: would we create it if it did not exist?The JBC was a central cultural and political institution, a fundamentalelement in the process of nation building, an institution often caught inthe middle of intense political struggles. Although the new PBCJ might notplay the same central role as JBC did, it should still become an importantplayer in the national dialogue. Although cultural, technological andpolitical changes make the new vision of a minimalist broadcaster neces-sary, this does not mean that the broadcaster should be marginal, like PBS.For this to happen, it is necessary to give public service broadcasting anew meaning, a new ‘forward vision’. In Jamaica that vision is welldetailed in John Maxwell’s words:

If you define public service broadcasting as giving people what you think isgood for them they’re not going to be interested. But if you define public



service broadcasting as giving people the power to tell their own stories andto solve their own problems you have a totally different thing.

(Maxwell 2003)

As Raboy wrote: ‘[p]ublic broadcasting no longer enjoys monopoly status,is no longer distinguishable from the rest, but it remains an importantreminder of the social and cultural possibilities of the media, in an agewhen the dominant thrust is overwhelmingly oriented towards con-sumerism’ (Price and Raboy 2003: 182). Amidst all its difficulties andcontradictions, the evolution of public service broadcasting in Jamaica notonly reminds us of the ‘social and cultural possibilities of the media’, itshows that those possibilities are a social and cultural necessity. Goingback to Richeri’s question, on whether or not we would recreate a publicbroadcaster if we did not have one, perhaps the answer should be ‘yes’.

AcknowledgementI’d like to thank Michael Tracey, John Downing and Manjunath Pendakur for theirhelpful comments on the manuscript.

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Suggested citationPadovani, C. (2007), ‘Would we create it if it did not exist? The evolution of public

broadcasting in Jamaica’, International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics 3: 3,pp. 215–234, doi: 10.1386/macp.3.3.215/1

Contributor detailsCinzia Padovani is an assistant professor at the School of Journalism at SouthernIllinois University Carbondale where she teaches international and global media,media economics, and the political economy of media institutions. Her publica-tions include A Fatal Attraction: Public television and politics in Italy (Lanham, MD,Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), also published as Attrazione Fatale: Televisione pubblicae politica in Italia (Trieste, Italy, Asterios Editore, 2008). Her current research focuseson the digital TV transition in Italy and the EU. Dr. Padovani continues to do com-parative research on the conditions of public service broadcasters in differentnational contexts (including Italy, the U.K., and the U.S.). Her work has been pre-sented at national and international conferences, and published on peer reviewedpublications such as Javnost/The public, Problemi dell’Informazione, and Television andNew Media, and in anthologies. Contact: Southern Illinois University, School ofJournalism – SIUC, mailcode 6601 Carbondale IL 62901, USA.E-mail: [email protected]

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Would we create it if it did not exist? The evolution of public broadcasting in Jamaica

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