Many former ZNS personalities are PLP supporters

Fri, Feb 15th 2013, 10:45 AM

Dear Editor,
The Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (BCB), or ZNS TV13 and radio, has for decades been accused of being an organ of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). This was especially evident during the turbulent eighties as many opposition supporters found it very difficult to get air time on the only television and radio outlet in the country in order to get their messages across to the information starved Bahamian people.
Back then the Pindling government kept a firm grip on the only electronic media in the country for fear of public opinion turning against it. ZNS TV13 was established in 1977 by the Pindling government and was fortunate to have a broadcasting monopoly for years. I have noticed an unusual phenomenon at ZNS throughout the years. Many former ZNS media personalities, such as radio talk show hosts and newsreaders, most of whom worked at ZNS during the seventies, eighties and nineties, are now active and rabid supporters of the PLP.
For instance, former BCB Chairman and ZNS TV13 newsreader Calsey Johnson is a known loyal supporter of the PLP and had even wanted to become a member of Parliament for his party. Ed Bethel, former ZNS TV and radio broadcaster, has been appointed as Bahamas High Commissioner to the United Kingdom by the PLP government. In the first Christie administration, Bethel served as consul general in New York City between 2002 and 2007. Former PLP Senator Paulette Zonicle has been appointed consul general to Washington D.C. Zonicle also worked at ZNS as a newsreader in the late eighties and early to mid-nineties, I think. PLP Member of Parliament for Mangrove Cay and South Andros and Ambassador to CARICOM Picewell Forbes also worked at ZNS Radio as a talk show host during the nineties and early to mid-2000s.
Steve McKinney, former host of Immediate Response and ZNS broadcaster, vocally supported the PLP in the run-up to the 2007 general election while on air. PLP supporter Phillippa Russell also hosted a radio talk show on ZNS radio and didn't bother to hide her political views while on air. PLP Member of Parliament for West End and Bimini and Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe was a ZNS newsreader in the eighties. PLP Member of Parliament and Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell also worked as a journalist at ZNS. Debbie Bartlett, co-owner of Gems Communications and a reported PLP, also worked at ZNS in the eighties, and Diana Swann, a reported loyal PLP, worked at the Northern Service for a number of years. She used to read the news for ZNS TV13 in Freeport. And Charles Carter, a former PLP member of Parliament, also worked at ZNS.
I find it most interesting that so many former prominent ZNS media personalities are now active supporters of the PLP. This is not to suggest that any of the above journalists did anything untoward while at ZNS or blocked or altered the FNM's message to the masses via ZNS. I am willing to go out on a limb and say that all of them were professionals in their craft and took grave exception to the PLP's policy of stifling the voice of the FNM. That said, one would be hopelessly naive to believe that these people wanted the FNM in power. Despite giving them the benefit of the doubt in their journalistic integrity with respect to being fair towards the FNM, I am still of the view that they wanted the status quo to remain with respect to the PLP remaining in power. Aristotle once said that man is a political animal, and that include journalists.
The PLP during the eighties understood very well the importance of controlling the media. This is why it made certain to put many of its staunch supporters in strategic positions at ZNS TV13 and radio. What political party wouldn't want its rabid supporters controlling the flow of information and reading the 7 o'clock news and editing the opposition's anti-government message? This might explain why the party was in power for an astounding 25 consecutive years, a feat that has rarely been matched in the entire Western Hemisphere. All things considered, Bahamians of today must appreciate the liberalization of broadcast media. Considering where we have come from, we should not take this for granted.
--Kevin Evans

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