Radio And Tv>> Government Propaganda • Trinidad and Tobago
Nearly three years after it came to power promising to uphold press freedom, Trinidad and Tobago’s government is under fire for demanding free airtime from broadcasters. Under a licensing agreement between radio and TV broadcasters and the telecommunications authority, the government may use 14 hours of airtime weekly to “reasonably declare any matter or event to be of public interest and require the concessionaire to broadcast”. But the clause was not invoked, until now.
“The facility will be used to give information on how ministries are using people’s resources,” Carribean island’s communications minister Jamal Mohammed told news agency IPS. The Association of Carribbean Media Workers says the provision should be invoked only in cases of emergencies rather than in the name of “public interest”.
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