Joseph Cunningham, Gleaner Writer
The Rev. Neville Callam, chairman of the Public Broadcasting Corporation, addresses the Lions Club of Kingston's luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus on Wednesday. At left is President Maurice Anderson. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
CHAIRMAN OF the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ), the Reverend Neville Callam, on Wednesday challenged the electronic media to broadcast programmes which were free of political interference.
The PBCJ chairman made the comment while speaking at the Lions Club of Kingston luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston.
The first of its kind in Jamaica, the PBCJ is expected to promote and broadcast national issues, including values and attitudes within the society, culture, educational programmes, national activities such as state and official events, national campaigns, church services, civic activities, public debates, and spiritual and motivational activities.
Rev. Callam asserted that the PBCJ must be free of political interference. He said, "It must be neither an agency nor an establishment of the Government. It must be a free-standing institution created to serve the public interest."
MANDATE
The PBCJ was launched on March 29 by former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, with a mandate to serve the public interest.
It is located at the former
home of the defunct Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) at 5-9 South Odeon Avenue, Kingston. The facilities have been refurbished and the studio has been renamed Studio National.
According to Rev. Callam, "A medium that is perceived as being partisan has absolutely no credibility whatsoever. Public broadcasting must serve the people."
He pointed to the 1967 Carnegie Commission on Educational Television, as being a major factor contributing to the development of a wide appreciation for public radio and television broadcasting in the Americas and the Caribbean.
The influential report des-cribed public television as including "all that is of interest and importance which is not at the moment appropriate or available for support by advertising, and which is not arranged for formal instruction."
The PBCJ was established by statute in 2002 as a system for public service broadcasting, offering public education, information and entertainment, to be funded by private sector and civic organisations.
Some $140 million from the divestment of the JBC was contributed to the PBCJ.
