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BIG BROTHER IS HERE!

Apr 14, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

 

At the moment the centre of attention in the country is on the passage of the National Budget. Everyone wants to know whether the Budget will be passed or whether it will be rejected.
Of course it will be passed. The opposition is not going to plunge this country into another crisis, because they will feel the heat if that happens. At the twelfth hour, a compromise is going to be brokered and the Budget, with some amendments, will be passed.
But even if per chance it does not, the Budget is a secondary to the gravest crisis the people of this country are facing. The problems over the Budget are nothing compared to the crisis that looms as a result of the granting of radio licences by the former President.
The granting of those licences has tilted the balance of power in the media spectrum and tilted it heavily in favour of the all-powerful economic oligarchy. This oligarchy now has an interest in newspapers, radio, television, cable, internet and broadband connectivity.
Almost every home in Guyana has a television. Almost every household has a radio. Almost every home will soon have a computer and soon every home will have internet access. That is the reach that the oligarchy has. They can get to you wherever you are because they have the technological medium to contact you. They and their friends now have powerful stakes in radio interest, internet and television. In short, they and their cronies have a powerful stake in the mass media.
The people of Guyana must understand the power that has been placed in the hands of the oligarchy as a result of the licences that have been issued and the frequencies assigned. Big Brother has been created. Big Brother will control your life.
He will reach you in the mornings on the radio. He will reach you during the day on the laptops. And he will come home with you through the television. You cannot escape Big Brother.
It is easy to say you can switch him off. You may switch off a channel, but you cannot switch off the power and the influence that comes with control over a huge section of the mass media.
Do not be fooled by liberalisation. That means nothing. In America the mass media is liberalized, but it is controlled by a handful of powerful companies who have the power and do exercise the power to decide what you see, what you hear, and what you learn.
The opposition is being blinkered by the fact that radio has been liberalised. It is no longer the liberalisation that is the problem, but the obvious imbalance that has been created because of issuance of the new licences. There is now more than one station, but the power is still concentrated in the hands of a few who are close to the ruling party and to the government.
That power can be used to control the public, just as is the case in North Korea, where there is a radio in every home and the people are forced to listen to the voice of their leader. The North Koreans hear what their leader wants them to hear. With this reach, he can have them do what he wants them to do. He can set them against others. Through the domination of the medium, he controls his people.
Even in a liberalised spectrum, the concentration of power in the hands of the oligarchy is a most dangerous development. They can counter the independent voices. They can dominate the media space by bombarding the people with what they want the people to hear. They can use that power to destroy independent voices. The oligarchy will have greater control over the advertising market and can put others out of business.
Big Brother will tell you what to buy; will tell you what to eat; will tell you what to drink and will then tell you what to read, what to listen to and inevitably how to think.
Democracy cannot save you from Big Brother because Big Brother will determine what is good for you and what is bad for you. Guyanese have to take a stand against this concentration of power because he who controls Big Brother also controls you.

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