From: malik kah <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [>-<] DA ON GRTS
To: "gambiapost" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, 29 November, 2012, 15:33

GRTS on the brink of bankruptcy
By D. A. Jawo

It is indeed not a surprise to anyone that our socalled national broadcaster, Gambia
Radio and Radio and Television Services, is in a financial mess and virtually bankrupt.
According to its latest financial report laid before the National Assembly, the GRTS’s
total liability, “the amount it owes to other individuals and institutions, at the moment are
three times more than the total current assets, all its belongings, implying a serious
liquidity problem.”

This situation has prompted its Director General, Momodou Sanyang, to appeal “for
government’s swift intervention to enable the GRTS to operate effectively and
efficiently.”

“Further compounding GRTS’s financial woes, is the gross operation loss of D12.5 million that it registered in 2011. The
loss is basically due to the increase in the cost of electricity and water by the national water and electricity supplier,
increment of staff cost, frequent and high cost of travel of the staff, depreciation charged on fixed assets, and unpaid
services rendered in 2011,” the report says.

Of course, when one closely scrutinizes how the GRTS operates, then one can quite easily see the rationale as to why it
is running at a loss and unless the situation changes, it will forever continue to be a financial burden on the Gambian tax
payers, a majority of whom unfortunately are not benefitting from its services.

Even though the Gambia is a small country, but if the GRTS was a well managed institution, serving the wishes and
aspirations of the Gambian people rather than just being in the service of a small clique, it could have been financially
viable. In addition to easily generating local funding for its operations, it could have also attracted international
assistance to acquire state of the art equipment and gadgets to reduce its operational costs.

However, the very fact that the GRTS has failed to meet the minimum international standards in broadcasting of
divergent views and dissenting opinion, no one, apart from the little assistance it receives from Taiwan, is likely to give it
any financial or technical assistance and therefore, it will continue to remain a financial burden to the country and its
people.

We are all living witnesses to how the GRTS has been operating virtually like an appendix of the ruling APRC rather
than the national public broadcaster it is supposed to be. It would rather spend several hours of air time showing
footage of President Jammeh and “volunteers” on his numerous farms while hardly reporting on issues that directly
affect the people. We have also seen how everything said or done by President Jammeh and the APRC, is given
headline news while hardly anything is ever mentioned of opposition activities, and to even feature members of the
opposition and others perceived as harbouring different opinions from the regime is regarded as taboo. For instance,
we have even seen how President Jammeh’s business activities such as sale of cement and Tobaski rams are made
headline news items while other happenings in the country are hardly reported, especially when the news features
members of the opposition.

Therefore, if such purely business advertisements which should have been paid for are treated as news items, then it is
not surprising that the GRTS is losing revenue. We have even seen that virtually all announcements from the ruling
APRC are not paid for, while the GRTS management would not even accept paid advertisements from the opposition.

Television is definitely quite a viable business if it is operated with fairness and diligence. We have seen for instance
how neighbouring Senegal has 12 TV channels, including two owned by the government and how they are all thriving
despite the stiff competition. Quite frequently, one would see foreign governments and international organizations
rendering financial and technical assistance to the Senegalese public broadcaster, RTS, apparently because they are
convinced that it is performing its role as a national broadcaster rather than just serving the interest of a few people.

There is no doubt that if the GRTS had also performed such a minimum role as a public broadcaster, giving airtime to
divergent views and dissenting opinion, as well as the government allowing private broadcasters to operate private TV
channels, the international community would have been quite ready to come to GRTS’s rescue.

However, we have seen that instead of liberalizing the media environment, this regime has become even more intolerant
of divergent views. A good case in point had been the recent closure of Teranga FM, which was virtually the only private
radio station in the country that used to open its microphones to the opposition and others with divergent views. We
have also seen the closure of The Daily News and The Standard newspapers, simply for the same reasons.

It appears that the regime is only willing to tolerate those media houses that would either sing its praises or not ready to
entertain its socalled opponents.

ENDS