China Central TV (CCTV) offers Guyanese the opportunity to learn about the culture, history and current issues of the Chinese people as the two countries enhance their friendship, Chinese Ambassa-dor to Guyana Zhang Limin said at the commissioning of the CCTV channel yesterday.
“The completion and commissioning of the CCTV and news channel we hope will enhance the cooperation between NCN and CCTV and also enable our Guyanese people to better understand Chinese culture… and history,” the ambassador said, through an interpreter. He said he saw the TV station as enhancing the relationship between the two countries.
Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Robeson Benn welcomed the channel and said the media, especially, could learn a lot from it.
“The fact that we will have online daily 24-hour information, from China, in itself signals the opportunity for us to learn from the Chinese experience…, more so for reporters with respect for broadcast journalism,” Benn said.
Veteran Broadcaster Enrico Woolford had written a letter to this newspaper in which he said that government had given preference to the Chinese over Caricom countries. “The Government of Guyana gave China a 24-hour channel on Guyana’s limited electro-magnetic spectrum ahead of its own and Caricom citizens under the Caricom Single Market and Economy mechanism,” he stated.
However, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon defended this on Thursday, saying that this arrangement pre-dated the embargo on new licences.
According to a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA), the agreement between China and Guyana had two main features, one of which was China providing the resources to facilitate the broadcast of its national TV – CCTV – on Guyana’s airwaves.
“Pointing out that the Office of the President assumed gazetted responsibility for the Information and Telecommunications sector during president Bharrat Jagdeo’s term in office – 2001 to 2006… a channel was identified to be used for the transmission of the CCTV signal. Dr Luncheon stated that the National Communications Network (NCN), in conjunction with the Government Information Agency, assumed the role for the management of this service,” GINA said.
Luncheon said also that there was nothing in the agreement that called for the physical presence of technical people from China to provide services, transmissions and operations. He said NCN and GINA undertook those responsibilities.
The HPS said that while he was yet to be briefed on the cause for the 10-year delay before actual conclusion of the terms of the agreement and turning on the switch to put CCTV in homes, government is pleased that the agreement is finally implemented.
According to GINA, Luncheon said the decision to establish CCTV was not made two years ago and therefore did not enter the spectrum for conflict with the statements that no new licences were to be granted.
He reminded that in 2001, then leader of the opposition Hugh Desmond Hoyte had agreed to set up task forces among which was one on the media. He reiterated that the embargo on licences came after the task force had concluded its work and the Chinese agreement was entered into prior to the embargo on TV licences.
The CCTV local station is set up in the compound of NCN. It is broadcasted on (Channel 27/Cable78) and shows China’s news programmes on a 24-hour basis. It is China’s equivalent to popular news networks such as the BBC.
