My undivided and unbiased objective of this article resides in my conviction for a free and balanced media.
Having served as a past chairman of CNMG, I am qualified to comment on the state enterprise I was collectively responsible for during my short tenure. My comments are instructive and inclusive of the cyclical retrograde environment most, if not all, our state enterprises find themselves in after every successive administration takes the reins of government.
CNMG as a going concern: CNMG replaced TTT/NBN in 2005 due to unsustainable losses. An initial capital investment of over 135 million dollars launched CNMG which suffers annual losses relatively equal to the annual ritual of government subsidies injected into the company to keep it on life support. Effectively, the history of CNMG evidences its failures to be profitable and remains a cash drain on the treasury.
During my (short) tenure I mandated that CNMG break even in three years and wrote the Minister of Finance to remove all subsidies by year three to drive the mandate for fiscal responsibility.
Unfortunately, the legacy of CNMG (a state enterprise) does not follow the same fundamental business principles required in private enterprises. Hence my "short tenure." CNMG is and will always remain a bankrupted drain on state resources and a threat to the "free press" principles of democracy as long as it functions under political duress. In fact, the merger of GISL with CNMG re-enforces the political threat to media.
Government has no business in competing with private enterprise in the first place and is out of place in leveraging free money (tax payers' money) to gain an unfair competitive advantage which ultimately negatively effects the industry.
Unlike the BBC (UK) & CBC (Canada) state media corporations where an independent board runs the companies and strict regulations to fend off state interference is constituted and audited, no such public protection measures exist at CNMG. The bottom line is that as long as CNMG remains a state-owned enterprise, it will remain as it is, a bankrupted political toy to be played at the leisure of politicians.
Business solutions for CNMG: CNMG has valuable assets inclusive of radio and TV licenses/operations with investments in technology infrastructure that gives it a substantial competitive edge. It sits on a property (value) that has great potential to be monetised. CNMG, in my view, has two options: divestment or PPP-Public Private Partnership.
Proviso caution to the wind: It can be argued, however, that in a small island economy where two corporations literally own the media waves that government is therefore entitled to guarantee that they "have a say" to balance the playing field in the event the "corporations" are encumbered by illegitimate compromises. In any case, state-owned CNMG should be run by an independent board and subject to the same financial responsibility as private enterprise.
Political football: The current administration's cleverness in appointing Helen Drayton to govern state media, because she was an independent senator, is political jujitsu. Within days of her appointment her "independence" was compromised when she called the CEO to enquire (effectively she implicitly applied pressure) about a broadcast that is considered unfavourable to the current administration. Her call resulted in the broadcast being cancelled.
The media fraternity, and the industry collectively, have a responsibility to debate the state media issues, voice their opinions and lobby for a fair and even playing field. In the interest of fair competitive practices, CNMG broadcast licenses must not be sold to/acquired by an existing media heavyweight. No circumstance whatsoever should permit the creation of a media oligarchy/monopoly.
Brian Stone