(CNS): Following reports by both Lucille Seymour and Denise Miller that they had been told their services were no longer required on Radio Cayman as government felt too many people connected to the opposition were acting as temporary hosts, the government has now defended that position. In a statement released by the premier’s press secretary government said that Radio Cayman is a government owned radio station reporting to an elected member of Cabinet and as a result the hosts must be politically neutral. The government also pointed the finger at the previous administration saying it had established the policy that the host of TalkToday, the show in question, should be a civil servant. (Photo- The current regular host of the show Sterling Dwayne Ebanks by Dennie Warren Jr)
Despite the fact that the show has a political slant as it invites the phone in audience to call in and question topical issues many of which are often directly related to government policy the statement said government believes the hosts must maintain a politically neutral position.
“It is important that presenters andtalk show hosts on Radio Cayman be politically neutral, not only in the content they present on the station’s programmes, but also in their public political stance,” the statement from the government said. “The political neutrality of the host of Talk Today is important enough that the former administration established a policy that the host of the show must be a civil
servant.”
The statement went on to say that the neutrality of this post was compromised when several people who are known to have partisan political positions were brought in or were scheduled as guest hosts of Talk Today while the regular host was on vacation. How it was compromised was not made clear but government said the political neutrality applied to temporary as well as permanent hosts it said.
Of the sixteen shows that were scheduled to have guest hosts, government claimed that twelve of those shows had people “known for their partisan political views” scheduled as guest hosts. Government did not list the names or identify which party their partisan positions supported. CNS has asked the office of the press secretary to supply the list of guest hosts and is awaiting a response.
“In order to ensure that the political neutrality of Talk Today was maintained the government
issued directions to Radio Cayman management to correct the situation. The directions were
not aimed at any person in particular but rather at Radio Cayman’s decision to have the
overwhelming majority of the guest host spots filled by people who take a public political
position,” the official government statement revealed. “The UDP government has no objection to opposition members or their supporters appearing as guests on Talk Today and in fact welcomes everyone to call, email or write in to the programme.”
Without even a hint of irony the government statement concluded that “government encourages and supports public debate from all political views” and it claimed that Radio Cayman’s TalkToday programme offered a good forum for discussion.
I am still waiting for the programmes aimed at the Voodooist and Satanist communities.
Has anyone seriously checked out the salary range for the host of this nonsense, for which apparently the only pre-requisite is that you love chocolate?
Radio cayman belong to the tax payers of this country and therefore should be a bi-partisan, neutral, non political station. I agree 100% with the government and the past administration for instituting this policy, it only makes good sense to have a neutral host. It should be ok for political parties to have regular paid for segments but not to host the show.
DISCRIMINATION…….at its best!!!!
The cowboy from the west is the Cayman Islands problem, he is who we need to deal with. Send him back to school and get his ENGLISH on track. I am sure we are the laughing stock of the world, with an illiterate man as he, being our leader. It makes one sick to hear him on radio, with his improper pronunciation of simple words. Get up to speed or shut up.
Good-bye Freedom of the Press!!!!!, Hello Communism!!!!!!!!!!!!. Come on Caymanians, see this latest ploy for what it really is. My 84 year-old mother has a favorite saying, "Give a braggart an "A", he’ll take an "L", Give a beggar a horse, he’ll ride it to H…….!!!!! According to Sookie and Zekiel, Da Wah Yuh Get". Maybe now the Governor will take a vote of "no confidence" and dissolve the entire assembly. Everything that is happening here in our beloved islands reminds me of what happened in Turks and Caicos Islands. If the Premier really has the islands at heart, like he used to, he will step down and stop victimising the islands because of his paranoia. If this man and his minions are not afraid of what investigative reporters find, why should he keep on going after the press. As long as we are a British Crown Colony, we have the inalienable right of freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. When the Government starts penalising the citizens of the islands because they have specific political views, this is the grounding of communism and even the Governor seems to be afraid to rock this boat.
I think Miss Lucille and others are trying to make the Govt.look bad.What they are not telling the public is that they are NOT banned from being on the shows as guest.What the Govt.is saying,which in my opinion is right,is that they are not allowed to host the shows.Alden was on Radio Cayman trying to make people believe the same thing couple days ago.Please stop trying to deceive the people.
My friends this is the first stage of authoritarian rule. If you want clarity just take a look southward at Venezuela and Senor Chavez and all he has done to SILENCE the media.
The next stage is to attack by other means other talk shows and radio stations which condone anti-government positions which are not government owned. This will extend out to websites like CNS. I believe he has even HINTED his idea already when he spoke of special license fees.
In actual fact other radiostations could consider this a shot across their bows that he intends to rule with a heavy hand. In my years I don’t believe this has ever been done at least with such brashness.
This my friends is a very slippery slope. I honestly believe the post has gone to his head.
The Premier has obviously taken leave of any senses that the Good Lord may have given him. For how much longer are you going to sit here and allow him to DESTROY the Cayman Islands? Do ANY of you have the convictions of your beliefs to try and save our islands? Remember why you came to this country, remember what it used to be like…..this is YOUR island. Remember, YOU have no where else to go. Fix Your Country before 1. It’s too late. 2. It’s no longer your country.
Da right sister Julie no airtime for PPM Flunkies please maintain this and uphold this dictatorship’s principals do on to them as they would have done to you aaaah what a mess we are in, we keep voting these same old udp and ppm loosers.
Sorry Julianna… but the Hosts on Radio Cayman, are not NEUTRAL! Ever heard of pushing your CHRISTIAN BELIEFS over the airwaves? That is what Dwayne and some of his guests do, and talk for hours, preventing phone calls from coming in. Many times, he even fails to address the many issues effecting average Caymanians. Dwayne is boring and too traditional – Austin does a better job and allows people to vent their frustrations over the airwaves. If there is somethin in the headlines, effecting Caymanians, he’s talking about it!
I dunno- is beating up some good looking stud then using your power as an MLA to do additional harm boring? Never called in about this….
Wow
50 ratings – must be some weight to this person’s comment. I wonder has there even been an evaluation done for radio programs, so that their administrators could know how their being rated by the public. Just a thought