Licking political wounds on radio

THE EDITOR:  Gone are the days of intelligent, knowledgeable radio hosts — people who can objectively run a programme with impartial flair and steadfast adhesion to what is factual. Radio announcers in those days were proud to be trained by the BBC and would display their craft and style in a manner which made their trainers proud. Two of the cardinal sins at that time were to mispronounce a word and, worse, to broadcast wrong information to the public.

During the time of the NAR, then Minister of Trade Ken Gordon who had interest in setting up his TV station opened the flood gates to granting licences and here we are today with a motley plethora of stations and a twisted garble of talk shows. The talk on Indian radio stations in particular, makes these stations appear to be campaign stations for the UNC or political health centres where the politically wounded can come to lick their wounds, or have them licked by complying hosts.

The same rules which applied for radio folks to stick to the truth must apply to their callers and guests.  Take for instance a UNC councillor is making the rounds  to radio and television stations with the wild claim that Caroni (1975) Ltd was “assassinated” and thousands were thrown on the breadline. He is left unchallenged with nonsense. A capable host would have informed him that Caribbean sugar was dying since the abolition of slavery, especially when European beet sugar was brought onto the market. It was a question of economics. Now in the dregs Caribbean sugar is seeing the last of a colonial hang on, preferential price under the Lome Agreement.  World market price for sugar is US$0.09 per pound. Trinidad and Tobago still enjoys a price of US$0.26 but  not for long. Brazil last month complained about this unfair practice and so the end of this agreement has been advanced from 2007 to 2005. 

Sugar will have to go the way of Caribbean bananas.  It has nothing to do with the race of our Government.  Panday and his government were faced with these cold hard facts and had only allocated six months of funds for Caroni in their last year in office. Radio folks must equip themselves with salient facts and not be carried away by ethnicity and partisan politics. It’s time to buck up.

Mc DONALD JAMES
Couva