In his Independence Day message in Tuesday’s DAILY Nation, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart told the country of “increased and broadened access to education to release the creative energies of our people, in ways that continue to claim the respect and admiration of people across the region and in the wider world”.
Proper sentiments on our 44th anniversary! In the same paper a story which caught my eye stated: “Stumps will be pulled on the popular Best And Mason radio show on the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation at the end of the year.” The co-hosts were so informed by the general manager.
The programme started in 1995. On Tuesday nights it showcased enhanced education and expertise, and released the creative energies of Andrew Mason, a leading regional cricket commentator and Carlisle Best, former Barbados captain and West Indies batsman. Lest you forget, Best was also a Barbados Labour Party candidate in the 1994 general election.
Will Best and Mason be seen as victims of political cleansing when CBC shuts down the best cricket show in Barbados and the cricket-crazy Caribbean that provides a platform for lovers of the game domestically and regionally to air views and interact with hosts and guests?
Over the years it attracted movers and shakers of regional cricket, including board chairmen Sir Clyde Walcott, Pat Rousseau and Wes Hall, CEOs Steven Camacho and Dr Hilaire, and such distinguished and diverse regional icons as Sir Shridath Ramphal, Sir Hilary Beckles, Sir Viv Richards and George Lamming.
It also attracted the political class across boundaries, including David Thompson, Johnny Cheltenham, Rawle Eastmond and David Commissiong. It beggars belief that the genesis for the show’s demise could be the incident when former Minister of Tourism Noel Lynch was evicted from the show and Mason walked with him in solidarity. He had come to talk marketing, his speciality, not politics.
Mason, who ridiculed CBC’s feeble, porous excuse, said Tuesday “democracy in this country is under threat and the state-owned corporation is for all Barbadians”. Yes, taxpayers fund it, but a recent TV special casts doubt on its general public utility and on if it is for all or an arm of Government, making a mockery of the jingle preceding the nightly seven o’clock newscast “Credible, Balanced, Committed”.
News Extra, the night the Minister of Finance delivered the Budget, had as guests Professor Frank Alleyne, chairman of the Government’s economic advisors; Dr Don Marshall, chairman of a state board; and Mr Peter Wichkam, CBC’s political consultant. Their political stripes are dyed in the wool.
The host, news and current affairs head Reudon Eversley, has equally impressive credentials. Prior to the 2008 election, he wrote a virulent anti-Government newspaper column and was the Democratic Labour Party’s election media specialist.
Is there a credible explanation why there was no one from the Barbados Labour Party or People’s Democratic Congress, or any non-aligned UWI academic? Four-nil gave the discussion a Fox TV-type balance, but the commitment was clear.
CBC’s general manager is Swedish, standing out like Nelson’s statue in National Heroes Square or three resident Polish Catholic priests preaching the Gospel in Barbados in 2010. He must be blissfully unaware that cricket was the main marker used to write our name indelibly on history’s page and has religious status.
Coming to the Pine after a stint in Port-of-Spain, unless his eyes and ears are wide shut, he must be aware of the volcanic furore that erupted there recently when Fazeer Mohammed (who shared many microphones with Mason) was fired from a state-owned TV station after an on-air contretemps with the Trinidadian foreign minister.
But good journalists float like cork, unlike some politicians who sink back into obscurity when the electorate acts on the premise that they are like diapers and need changing. Within days Fazeer was recruited by One Caribbean Media, parent company of Starcom.
Will Best And Mason replicate the Trinidad experience and migrate to the opposition in River Road? Bearing in mind the show’s high rating, it would hold CBC’s listenership below the waterline with deleterious consequences for struggling advertising revenues, a painful blow to its solar plexus and to taxpayers.
A final thought. David Thompson was a huge cricket fan and, I am told, regular listener to Best And Mason. I have no idea of the depth of Mr Stuart’s cricket interest or who in his Cabinet is responsible for broadcasting, the former leader’s portfolio. What I know is that he is umbilically connected to the highest standards of justice and fair play.
I also know that Minister of Sport Stephen Lashley, in his early working life, was a broadcast journalist and, hopefully, still subscribes to the profession’s basic ethics and best practices.
Honourable gentlemen, CBC’s slip continues
to show. What is revealed is not nice and reason is a refugee. Please use your good offices to ensure that highest standards are observed, creative energies not ruthlessly stifled and the respect and admiration of the region and wider world not scuttled by misguided political zealots.
•Peter Simmons, a social scientist, is a former diplomat.
