Heh, the brand new and I must say very photogenically handsome minister seems to be on a miss-step – I don’t want to say that he’s just following on from whence others have trod before him, that would be too strong, I hope – but with statements as those which appeared in today’s GDN give rise to a worrisome future, if the gentleman’s words are taken at face value:
Any show that may harm the image of Bahraini women’s are banned from being screened by the Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation, Information Minister Jehad Bukamal said yesterday.
TV drama writers have been strongly instructed not to write anything that may give a negative impression of Bahraini women, the minister told Shura Council members at their weekly session.
What’s wrong with the above statements, you might wonder? I’ll tell you what, they assume that Bahraini women are inviolate goddesses not prone to error. While some might approach that naive assessment, I would venture to say that the vast majority of them are simply human beings with wants, needs and some might even have a nastier streak in them than a lot of their opposite gender. So asinine blanket statements like the above actually do more damage to the country as a whole rather than women alone. And of course, there is the image of that huge big pair of scissors that the honourable gentlemen gave the impression of eradicating when he first took office.
So, the chips are down, and the Misery of Information is carrying on as it were, an out of date and an out of control juggernaut going on momentum and hoping to be pointing in the right direction. Pre-censoring everything, banning material, ordering writers to write what the ministry wants, rather than reflect and treat real and felt social ills.
Perfect. But there’s more:
“Even the shows we buy from abroad are carefully studied before they are purchased to ensure that they are inline with the country’s policies, which respect women and their outstanding role in society,†said Mr Bukamal.
He’s also suffering from an acute sense of amnesia it seems. He has forgotten that in this area alone there are over 300 satellite channels all clamouring for eyes and only a very small percentage of them are semi-succeeding, but only if success is measured not in monetary terms but in that of viewership figures, a number that his illustrious television station is in dire need of and barely enjoys numbers in the teens.
Where is he going to buy his programs from, one wonders, and which distribution company in their right mind is going to entertain such a draconian measure as to make programs available to his channel which are “inline with the country’s policies“? Which country is he talking about? Oh, Bahrain. The population of which is still an unknown figure and all of whom hardly if ever turn on Bahrain TV even by accident.
“We have a lot of local shows to highlight the pioneering role of women and discuss women and family issues. Women events, programmes and activities are also being covered and special programmes on them are being broadcast.â€Â
“There are new programmes directed towards women and we hope to have them launched soon.
Oooh goody! But see the preceding paragraph please. If this is your idea of running a television station after a few months at the job, I’m afraid to burst your bubble and tell (not advise) you to put the brakes on immediately, put plans in place for you to be the very last Minister of Information this country will have, and spin off BRTC into the private sector. THAT should be your manifesto for the job you have.
But, if you do intend to continue on the path your predecessors have dithered on, I suggest at the very least look into spinning off the production departments and outsource it to the private sector so they can provide quality programs for you to choose from and pay fairly for. (Full disclosure: I own a production company, but I am not interested in doing any production for Bahrain TV under the current circumstances.)
“Women employees in particular are being sent abroad to courses and specialised workshops, as we try to improve programmes dealing with women.†He said that 384 employees have been sent to workshops last year, out of them 165 were female.
“Thirty-seven employees took part in courses and workshops abroad, out of which 17 were women. Those workshops and courses not just deal with women, but with ways of improving programmes for society.â€Â
Huh? Isn’t this a clear case of discrimination? The numbers might not suggest it so I’ll let it pass. What I will bring up; however, is the huge number of staff that TV station has! Come on! FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY ONE people have been sent on courses for a TV station that only has one and a half channels? For god’s sake! This guy is squandering the country’s resources too! If they have sent 421 souls on courses, how many more were left behind to run the station? I bet it is the same figure again if not more!
On a recent visit to NBC Studios in New York at the Rockefeller Plaza, we went through several floors and visited iconic studio sets like Saturday Night Live and Conan O’Brian, I can bet they don’t even have a quarter the staff our hugely productive Bahrain TV has, yet, we all know the kind of programming and news NBC churns out to world-wide acclaim. So it’s not a numbers game.
So come on man, gird up the loins and fire 90% of the staff (keep the janitors, they do an honest job) and base the can decision on quality rather than gender. Shake that place up good and make it ready to present to the private sector to take over. You can even make the government more money by spinning of the radio separate from the television offerings, and I bet that most investors won’t even want to get your archaic equipment, they will just be interested in the frequencies and licenses!
So cut out the marketing stuff and do what’s right. You were an elected MP, then an assigned one, and now you are a minister and before all of that you were (are?) a businessman. There is no one better positioned to make real change into that flaccid organ.
So get on with it. Please.
Comments
Its not a secret that the former minister of information had loaded up the ministry with a great number of followers of a certain political and religious line. That might explain the reason why you have this gross overstaffing – jobs for the girls and boys.
مالت على تلÙÂزيونالبØÂرينالدايخ … سؤال بريء Ùˆ بسيط Ùˆ ÙÂÙ†ÙÂس الوقت ÙÂاقع مرارتيليش اغلبية المذيعينÙÂنشرة الاخبار Ùˆ بعض البرامج الثانية منالجنسيات العربية يعنيمنقلة المذيعينالبØÂرينيين؟
In my opinion, the entire MoI is an outdated institution. It needs to switch its mandate from control of information, to facilitating access to information… somewhat of a government ombudsman for transparency. The Bahrain TV channel should be a public channel, and in that regard, a channel that serves the public interest. This means that, like CSPAN in America, Bahrain TV needs to break itself down into separate channels, that allow for a combination of forced flat taxes on media networks that broadcast locally to play their part in funding (along with the government) fully transparent public access to parliaments sessions, as well as speeches and other events that feature politicians, ministers or the King.
As far as the role it should reform itself into, as the ombudsman, it should restructure itself into an organization that works within the public interest, not elite interests. Meaning, instead of dictating policy, it should encourage concerns of the population to be written in, and fund its own investigations into matters of public interest, to enforce constitutional freedom of speech, access to information, and increase transparency. It should also observe government relations with press and activists, and judicial lawsuits or physical action taken against them, as a representative of the people rather then the government. So long as it maintains itself like this, the entire organization will be a thorn, perhaps even an anvil, in the side of true democratic reform.
The honest fact lies that BTV peak is during the month of Ramadan, a good friend of mine owns a Production company and has for the last 2-3 years been providing content to BTV. BTV always offer unrealistic budgets for unrealistic targets, corruption exists on certain tendering boards and last but not least the actual mechanism, resources, and basic management skills are missing or over-looked.
Out-sourcing BTV will no doubt bring a wind of change, but for who??? The new investor or the viewers.. On the contrary my friend provides similar content to Sama Dubai, Qater TV and Kuwait and the difference in budgets, treatment and professionalism differs.. Simple Quiz.. Why do Bahraini Producers work for regional GCC TV stations? Better pay, realistic budgets, recongnition and above all fairplay.
Shake-up time !!!
the MoI is an un-needed ministry in the first place, and its not like we have 20 TV networks and 3000 radio channels to be controlled and regulated (I am against controlling the media anyway). and this piece is good and bad in too many ways to talk about.
Its good because the Drama writers that we have are so bad they need some one to control them (the current ones at least) and any one who’ve been watching Bahrain TV would agree with me, as a matter of fact this is a region wide problem, its not about what they write but more to why and how they write, its more about why is it that only a few morons keep appearing in the credits even though the same story, the same acts, the same places are being used over and over again, and I am slightly please that some one in the MoI noticed that.
It is bad though, you know that you are still in a stone age country when everything needs to be approved and green lighted by the government, even when ti comes to TV series that no one is watching.
the MoI is a joke, and will never be fixed, its only a shame that once we were the best in the field of information, but today we don’t even deserve to be the worst, simply because when you are nothing on any ones map you can’t be classified.
Sadek, just to put you in place, if the previous minister “loaded up the ministry with a great number of followers of a certain political and religious line” why is it that during his time, certain religous processions and diverse religous programmes were considered appropriate for viewing? and go on that way to this day? This ofcourse doesn’t happen in any of the other GCC states, but then again, who’s taking count?
You talk as if you know what is going on inside the station. You forget that they are Bahraini’s just like you and me, looking for a living.
Next time you make such a politically driven comment whether its about BTV or MOI or about Bahrain in general, I COMMAND you to think before making a mock of yourself.
In defence of the Minister, I do beleive his statements were taken out of context. This was probably in relation to certain comments regarding the negative image of Bahraini women portrayed in the latest tv productions.
Have you not heard what is said about us in other GCC states, all of which have more serious social ills? Its productions that focus on a minute portion of our society that gives us a bad name.
My suggestion is:
خل عندكم غيرة شويصØÂÙŠØÂ
راØÂت رجال ترÙÂع الدروازة ياتنا رجال المطنزة والعازة
Bahrainia, something might have come out of those TV productions, I agree, but do you really think it is the only and sole reason why bahraini women are generlized and sterotyped into anything? or is it that a big slice of them actually have problems, not all of them, not most of thme, but a big slice?
I think you need to be realistic adn keep an eye open to what is around you, how people act is the the most important part of how you are looked at, there is a lot more to this, women need to work on younger girls and educate them, this starts at home and in schools, but blaming everything on TV is not right, if you want a good image you have to be a good person, thats where it ends and starts.
Eyad I agree with you that education starts at home, but we all know our society inside out. We all know that the issue of promiscuity only started recently, our mothers generations were considered, and truly are, the purist of the pure. How can we sheild our daughters from these social ills and from whatever is out there if it slaps them in the face everytime they watch tv??
Take that programme in Ramadhan, I won’t mention any names. How did that benefit society? How did that benefit each and every viewer. It rubbed “someone’s” reality in our faces. “Someone” who was trying to give reason for the way she lives and her particular group within society…
Our respect for “honour” and the loss of it in todays world, cannot be treated through such means. If anything, it makes it look like the norm and more and more girls and boys get entangled into it.
That’s why people should start to see TV productions and movies the way they should be seen, only as entertainment and nothing more.
We over glorified celebrities for no reason, and for that some treat them as gods and anything they say or do on the screen turns out to be a trend and fashion, regardless of how stupid, crazy or small it is.
And if you’re afraid on little girls from Bahrain TV that no one is watching, what do you think the other channels are doing?
I hope you’re not saying that “If you can’t beat them, join them”? Cause that hardly does any good to the situation in this case.
Bahrain TV, in particular because it has the potential to operate from a clean slate, can influence society through better and more innovative programs without a high-handed approach and without orders being given to writers to restrict their creativity.
Voicy
Excuse me but who are you to command me? Mock myself? Please stop being infantile.
Anyhow I don’t understand why you are getting excited – the reality is that the minister filled up the ministry during his time with a substantial number of a group that he is politically sympathetic with. Thus there are far too many employees partially as a result of his actions- that being said I did not realise that the tv station was a place to take surplus labour.