By Ezekiel Nabieu
I am inclined to use the word KUDOS that has become a buzz-word for praise. In fact it is an informal word for honour and glory but the tendency for most people is the use of new words in spite of real meanings. In old English let me say: If thou doest well shall thou not be praised? Let us give the devil his due. Like all institutions, the SLBC has its merits and demerits.
Let me reiterate what I wrote in this column earlier that the SLBC is worse than the SLBS. I also wrote that "I am not indulging in nitpicking but I only hope that I am not pouring water on a duck's back." I thought the Director General would have been man enough to come out with a statement giving me the lie. He ought to have responded that the SLBC is much better than the SLBS. In the absence of that Ebola response, I am going on with my observations regardless of the so-called pundits.
Keen listeners would agree with me that there has been an upswing in the programs of the SLBC. Whether this is due to a counter-exit strategy by the big boss is not yet known but it comes close at the final hour. One of the news items on their programs that could cause them to have a feather in their caps is the Wake Up program in the morning hours which covers quite a lot of worthy news items omitted in their so-called National News Bulletin that is virtually a State House Bulletin. Another program that is worth noting and for which they deserve another feather in their caps without causing them to fly is the music presented on Sunday afternoons. That's about all there is to the credit of the SLBC.
Now comes the litany of their derelictions of duty. I wonder and the wonder still grows within me whether the Director General fully realises the importance and impact of the National News Bulletin though it is supposed to be a short, official statement of news. Sometimes the bulletin does not come on at the scheduled time but the authorities are as discourteous as not to render an apology to the listeners. And when it does come on, they are as reckless as not to commence the news at the scheduled time. Not only that. The duration of the news does not matter to them albeit it matters to listeners. Sometimes it's five minutes or ten minutes or fifteen minutes as the whim takes them.
If he had not been bigoted with a false sense of omniscience, the beleaguered Director General would have learnt quite a lot from the redoubtable BBC, arguably the world's radio station.
While the SLBC cannot approximate to the BBC standards, it is a truism that if we aim at the skies, we can shoot above the trees. Many of the previous members of staff of the SLBS were British-trained and the BBC is still available to train staff members of humble corporations. The sense of news values of the SLBC leaves much to be desired which is why in spite of the very significant events each day the SLBC can muster the effrontery to dish out only five minutes of national news especially in these Ebola times.
Proper presentation of programs for the best understanding of listeners should not be glossed over. Sloppy presentations should be discouraged. A program like "Kabaslot en Kotoku" has a brilliant female presenter but she needs some guidance which has not been forth-coming. Let it be known that not everyone can be opportuned to clock in with the beginning of a program during which the names of guests are announced.
It is therefore fitting and proper for the presenter to be reminding listeners half-way through the program about the name and title of the interviewee and not only to have a music break. Also at the end of the program the producer can again identify the program if the presenter does not do so.
TEA BREAK was at its inception the most desired program aside from the news bulletin and the stock-in-trade-obituary. After the Valcarcels, Claudia Anthonies and Renners it seems to have been slumping and needs some injection.
There are now two immovable presenters one of whom is lack-lustre who says "you can contribute by keep sending..." laced with silly questions and the other who can pass muster. The fixation of the boss stands, standards or no standards.
The incumbent Director General if he is honest enough would admit that standards of the Tea Break before him were higher obviously because of the higher calibre of the personnel.
CORPORATION STATUS
A public corporation as the name implies is a quasi-government institution and cannot be anti-governmental. At the same time it should be seen to be independent and not be overtly pro-government. In the case of the SLBC, it was thought that one of the reasons of the change of status from wholly government-owned to a parastatal status was to achieve that much-needed independence but it was not to be. Patronage and sycophancy continue unabated and without any qualms. The bid to achieve second termism within the corporation and third termism outside continues apace.
We are not naive enough as not to read between the lines. Though a corporation is entitled to subventions from the Consolidated Revenue Fund they should also collect revenue to carry out running expenses not necessarily to make profit. But again the SLBC goes overboard in this regard. Not only that. Under the present leadership accountability has been the Achilles heel.
The swashbuckling Director General is in Ebolic denial that he is guilty of any wrongdoing. And his accusers include senior staff. He says he has developed the SLBC to meet international standards. Whatever that means! The fact remains that under our sort of democracy, Gbanabome Hallowell is like the Rock of Gibraltar that cannot be removed, protests or no protests. We are waiting to see what the Anti-Corruption Commission can do in this matter and previous ones involving the corporation.
PRESS REVIEW: WHAT A PROGRAMME!
Press Review is not a Vox Pop in which you can pick on anyone in the street. It is a programme in which members of the panel are expected to be well educated in order to make in-depth analysis of the pertinent issues covered in the papers. In this case, shall we have the Curriculum Vitae of panelists if we are not to conclude that they are recruited on the basis of friendship and/or patronage?
CONFLICT OF MANTRAS
Writing from outside an ethnic community as forbidden by the original SLBC mantra, I am inclined to think that there is a conflict of mantras. The rival mantra speaks of "The Sound of the Lion Mountain." It would appear that the SLBC board has intervened and instead of abandoning the former meaningless mantra has as a compromise measure allowed the two mantra to go on. The SLBC, under the watch of Hallowell should be ashamed of the achievement of the toddler, Star Radio. The SLBC has just confirmed the dictum that the first shall be the last.
QUESTION TIME
1. (a) Why would workers in an institution like SLBC including senior members go on strike against an "efficient and competent" boss?
(b) Are they not up against the termination of office of a celebrated batoist?
2. (a) Has our parliament as constituted ever rejected nominees of H.E. the president?
(b) Will such rejection not be a miracle?
3. (a) Is the office of the Center for Disease Control not now redundant?
(b) Was his excuse not that the Ebola virus disease that was identified in Zaire in 1976 was new?
4. Does SLAJ not know that an advice is not obligatory and can be rejected as in the case of the IMC nominees?
(b) Why were they making much ado about nothing? "True say talk me." I am just being objective.
© Politico 11/11/14
