GIS to Begin Regularly Scheduled Programming Soon

Contact: John Emmanuel

Friday, May 04, 2001 - Local audiences will soon have an additional television channel to choose from when the Government Information Service (GIS) launches regularly scheduled programming on Cablevision Channel 2 in coming months.

That disclosure came from the island’s newly appointed Director of Information Services Embert Charles. According to Mr. Charles, his acceptance of this latest assignment to head the government’s information services department stems from a firm conviction that he can contribute to the enhancement of the information sector. "I think I have something to offer given my wide area of training ranging from media production, to policy development and telecommunications management, both formally as well as work wise. Sometimes you have to get into the area of policy regulations and formulation to make a contribution and that’s really what prompted me accept this assignment."

The Government Information Service on Thursday May 3^rd, launched its redeveloped and improved website at http://stlucia.gov.lc . The commencement of regularly scheduled programming on Cablevision Channel 2 has been the making for some time and Charles says while it represents a mammoth task for the GIS, it does not signify a paradigm shift away from public service broadcasting.

Mr. Charles says "Public service broadcasting is taking on a new shift now. All the debates around the world indicate that you must justify public service broadcasting from both political and economic grounds. The political grounds have always been there, the economic grounds are emerging even more now because of the vast outlay of government expenditure on communications and from a purely financial point of view, in some cases, it makes more sense to invest in certain areas of communications infrastructure."

"Right now because of the nature of technology you don’t have to invest large amounts in infrastructure. With a channel and various telecommunications media, you can get your data out to the majority of people without putting masts up and so forth. The challenge is mammoth in ensuring that content is consistent and accurate but as far as the mechanics are concerned it’s not that much of a challenging task," said Charles.

Concerning a time frame for the launching Mr. Charles says the GIS is hoping to run some test before the end of May. "Having done that and reviewed it, we’ll continue to have discussions with many of the parties involved both in production as well as agencies that utilize the media very much - both public and private sector. Together with that information and the review process internally by the GIS staff, we will probably set a target within a month’s time after the tests have been run to do a formal launching and remain on air. That’s the essential thing, to remain on air with the line-up that we’ve got."

The St. Lucian public has been invited to participate in the process by coming up with a name for the new channel. Submissions can be sent into the GIS via regular mail, fax or email.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Search for 2001 Press Releases ] [Site Help]

© 2001 Government Information Service. All rights reserved.

Read our privacy guidelines.