Today CNC3 marks twenty years of broadcasting. When it went to air in 2005, it entered a competitive field of state and private broadcasters. Two decades later, it has become one of the country’s main sources of news, current affairs and analysis. Congratulations are in order.
But this anniversary also comes at a difficult time for journalism. Across the world the press is under attack. In the United States, the Trump years turned “fake news” into a weapon. In India, Narendra Modi’s government has steadily restricted independent reporting. In Gaza, journalists are being killed in record numbers.
Not all threats are direct. More dangerous is the slow creep of self-censorship—the question avoided, the investigation dropped, the instinct to soften for fear of reprisal. That silence corrodes journalism from within.
CNC3’s record matters because it has worked against that tide. Its flagship news programme has given steady coverage of national and regional events. It has built a presence online that carries local stories to the diaspora and beyond. It has asked questions those in power would rather avoid.
In Trinidad and Tobago, freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution but remains vulnerable in practice. Independent newsrooms survive only through vigilance, buttressed by the support of their publishers. CNC3’s twenty years show what persistence and clarity of purpose can achieve.
So while congratulations are due, the milestone is also a reminder: journalism speaks for those without a platform, demands transparency, and safeguards democracy itself. CNC3 at twenty shows why a free press is not optional. Without it, democracy cannot stand.
