A couple of late meetings prevented me from watching TV last night. So I watched BBS TV’s rebroadcast this morning. In particular, I watched Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba, the officiating prime minister, and Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu, the finance minister, talk about the current economic situation. I thank the government for going on national TV to explain the ongoing currency situation to the public at large. The two ministers are our most experienced financial experts. The two of them have served as finance ministers for a combined total of 14 years, and as finance secretaries for more than 10 years. So…
My oversized jaws continues to be the brunt of many jokes. Replying to my last post 'nagilabgey' answered that "OL's jaws" are the second largest structure in Thimphu! My jaws are big, but they're not that big. They certainly are not the second biggest structure in Thimphu. That distinction belongs to the BBS radio tower in Sangaygang. The BBS tower, measuring about 41 meters, was built in the 1980s to transmit shortwave radio waves. Since 1999, the tower has been used to broadcast TV and FM signals in addition to shortwave radio. Actually, I had another structure in mind…
Here's how I observed International Anticorruption Day yesterday: One, I went through Transparency International’s Corruption Perception index report for 2011. Bhutan is rated 5.7 (10 means perceived to be very clean; 0 means very corrupt) and is ranked a decent 38 out of the 182 countries and territories that were studied. Bhutan’s rating of 5.7 remains unchanged from the 2010 corruption perception levels. Not bad, but we can, and must, do better. Two, I tuned in to see BBS’s live debate on the topic “Is Bhutan doing enough in fighting corruption?” The debate, which was organised jointly with IMS,…
The sixth session of the Parliament has concluded. And again, during this session too, the National Assembly did not allow its proceedings to be broadcast on live TV. But this time, the Assembly allowed the Question Hour discussions to be carried on live TV. That’s a slight improvement. And I welcome it. And hope that, from the next session on, BBS will once again be allowed to cover the National Assembly’s entire proceedings on live TV. On a related note, BBS’s own efforts at covering the Parliament’s discussions seem to have regressed. Till the last session, BBS would, after…
The Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy and the BBS recently got together last week to organize a seminar on the nature and role of public service broadcasting in Bhutan. The two-day seminar, which was meant to discuss public service media and broadcasting in general, generated a good deal of attention on the way BBS is organized and run. Such scrutiny is good for BBS’s health. In fact, it is vital, especially if the Kingdom’s oldest and main broadcaster is to achieve its vision of becoming “A trusted public service broadcaster of international standing …” The BBS was delinked…
Enough protection?
Last week, Parliament authorized the government to review the mandate of BBS. I’m against the government meddling in BBS’s affairs. But our lawmakers feel that the country’s only TV station is underperforming. And that the government should intervene to give BBS vision and the means to achieve that vision.
So what’s the first move that the government makes? It directs BBS to go 24/7. And it does so without consulting anyone in BBS. Our national broadcaster struggles to generate sufficient content for the five hours it goes on air each day, and the government, unilaterally, directs BBS to broadcast round the clock. This directive does not augur well for television in Bhutan.
BBS is essentially a non-commercial public service broadcaster. So the state should subsidize its operations. How much? That, the government should decide.
But the government should not interfere in how BBS is run. That is the job of the Managing Director and the Board of Directors – ultimately they are the ones responsible for ensuring that BBS is able to inform, educate and entertain our people, and for protecting its editorial independence.
And that, precisely, was the reason why BBS was delinked from the government in the first place. The Royal Kasho establishing BBS as an autonomous corporation was issued way back on 18 September 1992. But its message is timeless. In fact, it’s even more relevant today. So, to remind ourselves, I’m reproducing the translation of that Royal Kasho:
So, BBS has not been permitted to broadcast live coverage of most of the proceedings of the fourth session of the National Assembly. Only the opening and closing ceremonies, and the discussions on the Anticorruption Commission’s annual report will be broadcast live. This is how it was in the National Assembly’s third session. And, like then, I am still concerned that the independence and freedom of the nation’s only TV station is being compromised. But what I recently read in the Kuensel got me even more concerned. BBS’s general manager was quoted as saying: “MoIC wants us to submit…
It’s been one week since the National Assembly discontinued live TV coverage of its proceedings. And most of us have now resigned to the fact that the National Assembly’s discussions are not broadcast on live TV. Not our villagers though. I still receive calls to appeal, on their behalf, for resumption of live coverage – on radio and TV – of the Assembly’s proceedings. Today, for instance, Tashi Gyeltshen telephoned me. Tashi is from remote Merak in Trashigang. And he’s a yak herder. He called to tell me that he wants to listen to the Assembly sessions on his…
The poll on the National Assembly’s decision to ban live TV coverage for most of its proceedings attracted considerable interest. But with 292 of the 315 participants (that’s 90% of them) disagreeing on the National Assembly’s recent decision, our readers’ views are clear. Only 23 voters (7%) supported the ban. And 10 people admitted that they really didn’t care. The public outcry against the National Assembly’s decision is obvious. And I’m not just referring to our poll. BBS has shown many people, from various walks of life, all denouncing the restrictions imposed on BBS TV’s live broadcast. Yet, the…
The National Council has decided that their proceedings will continue to be telecast live on BBS. I’m hopeful that the National Assembly members will reverse their earlier decision to ban live TV broadcast for most of their sessions.
Middlepath (very good nickname) had this to say on my last entry about the National Assembly’s decision to discontinue live TV broadcast for most of its proceedings: “OL and others, please do not abuse the provisions of the Constitution to suit your position on the live telecast. The Constitution says that the proceedings of the NA should be conducted in public but the speaker has the discretion to exclude the press and the pubic from all or any part of the proceedings….(Art 10,15). Public should not be understood as live coverage – it should be understood as open for…
Our last poll, on the PCS, has been up for hardly four days. But it generated 51 votes. Almost three-fourths of them were cast against the position classification system. And only 14 voters supported the PCS. Several of the commentators, however, clarified that the PCS is actually a useful system, but that its flaws come from poor implementation. I agree with them. If the RCSC wants to continue with the PCS, it should implement the system completely. In particular, it should put into practice the dual principles of “right person for the right job” and “equal money for equal…
During a recent meeting to discuss the agenda for the next session of the National Assembly, MPs decided that live TV broadcast would be allowed only for the opening and closing ceremonies, the PM’s address, and for discussions related to public accounts and anticorruption. Only two MPs, both from the opposition, argued that the proceedings of the National Assembly should continue to be broadcast live on TV. I cannot understand why anyone would want to discontinue the live broadcast of the National Assembly proceedings. Consider that: the Constitution requires that “The proceedings of Parliament shall be conducted in public”;…
In 1973 the National Youth Association of Bhutan, consisting of fifty to sixty young women and men, decided that Thimphu needed a radio station. So they asked if they could use the government's radio transmitter on Sundays when the wireless station in Taba normally closed and freed up a 400-watt transmitter. The Royal Government obliged. And Radio NYAB, which later became BBS, was born. Today, 35 years later, HRH Ashi Chimi Yangzom Wangchuck inaugurated BBS's new TV Centre. The Centre, financed by GOI, cost Nu 200 million and is fitted with state-of-the-art broadcast equipment. This will allow BBS to…
Consider this: The BBS has already televised the prime minister’s speech during the National Day celebrations in Pema Gatshel on four different days – 23rd December, 25th December, 28th December and 31st December.Now consider this: The BBS has televised His Majesty the King’s address to the nation during the National Day celebrations in Thimphu only on one day – 17th December.
