Jamaica
| Author | John Maxwell |
| Pages | 257-286 |
JAMAICA
BY
JOHN
MAXWELL
he
Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC)
was
established
by the
government
of
Jamaica1
as a
state corporation
on 15
June 1959,
modelled
on the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
(CBC).
The
JBC
was,
in
April 1997, almost wholly divested
to
private
owners.2
The JBC
operated
two
radio stations
and a
television station.
The
television station,
JBC-TV,
and
Radio Two,
the FM
music station, were sold
to
Radio Jamaica
Ltd.,
a
public company owned
by a
consortium
of
community interests
and
private investors.
The
government announced
its
intention
to
retain
JBC
Radio
One as an
outlet
for
public interest broadcasting, including edu-
cational broadcasting.
The
station
is not yet
operating.
ii)
Effect
of
State
Ownership
The JBC
attracted
political
criticism
almost
as
soon
as it
began
operating
in
1959.
The
Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)
— a
coalition
of
conservative
upper-class,
upper middle-class,
and
trade union interests
—
complained
that
the
station paid
too
much attention
to the
activities
of the
People's
National Party (PNP)
in
government. When
the JLP
became
the
govern-
ment
at
independence
in
1962,
it
almost immediately complained that
the
1.
The
Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation
Act
1958,
Law 65 of
1958.
2. The
Public Broadcasting Corporation
of
Jamaica
Act
257
A.
OWNERSHIP
AND
REGULATION
OF
THE
MASS MEDIA
i)
Locally Owned Mass
Media
a)
Electronic
Media
i)
State
Ownership
T
JBC
newsroom treated ministers disrespectfully
in
newscasts
by not
using
the
title
"Honourable"
when speaking
of
them.
The
newsroom
was
able
to
prove that
it had
never
referred
to
ministers
as
"Honourable." Almost
as
soon
as
this dispute blew over,
the
government clashed with
the
JBC's
board about
a
political commentary
by a
journalist whom
the
government
wanted dismissed.
The
board
was
replaced some
months
later,
and the
commentator
was
dismissed
by the new
board.
In
1964 workers
at the JBC
went
on
strike
to
protest what they
described
as
government attempts
to
edit
the
news.
After
a
three-month
strike,
most
of the
staff
was
dismissed
and
replaced.
For the
duration
of the
decade,
the
opposition
PNP
alleged political bias
by the JBC and
govern-
ment interference with
freedom
of the
press.
The PNP
took
office
in
1972,
and by
1976
the JBC was
again being
accused
of
favouring
the
government, this time
by the
JLP. When
the JLP
took
office
in
1980,
the
station dismissed
its
entire news
and
public
affairs
staff.
Throughout
the
1980s there were renewed complaints
by the PNP
that
the
JBC, particularly
the
newsroom,
was
politically biased.
In
1991
the PNP
government established
a new
system
of
governance
for
the
JBC;3
both
major
political parties were represented
on the
board
and the
director general received
a
guaranteed term
of
office.
This struc-
ture disappeared with
the
divestment process.
iii)
Recognition
of
Private Broadcasting
Public broadcasting emerged with
the
outbreak
of
World
War II in
1939,
when
a
wealthy radio
ham
operator donated
his
broadcasting equipment
to the
government.
The
shortwave station,
ZQI,
continued broadcasting
until
1949,
when
the
government granted
an
exclusive licence
to a
subsid-
iary
of the
English
Rediffusion
Group, Radio
Jamaica.4
Public
dissatisfaction
with
the
poor quality
and
foreign
(mainly Amer-
ican)
style
and
content
of
Radio Jamaica
led to the
establishment
of the
JBC,
patterned
on the
CBC.
The JBC was the
brainchild
of
Norman Man-
ley,
then premier
of
Jamaica.
It was an
independent corporation
that
The
Jamaica
Broadcasting
Corporation
(Amendment)
Act
1991.
The
Broadcasting
and
Radio
Re-Diffusion
Act, 1949,
the
Commercial
Broadcasting
(Radio
Jamaica) Licence
and the
Radio Re-Diffusion (Radio Jamaica Ltd.) Licence,
1949.
258
COUNTRY REPORTS
3.
4.
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