St. George’s, June 3, 2010 (GIS) - Growing public concern is being expressed by Grenadians on whether the nation is being short changed by the Grenada Broadcasting Network (GBN). Among those who have openly criticised GBN is Senator Chester Humphrey, President General of the Technical and Allied Workers Union (TAWU). The union represents staff at GBN. Employees at GBN’s San Souci headquarters in St. George’s, backed by their union, recently refused to work on the grounds that rain-soaked electrical equipment and other problems made the workplace unsafe. According to the GBN staff, their health and safety were also being jeopardised by ‘dangerous and faulty’ electrical outlets, ‘rat infestation’ in the studios and with work stations ‘littered with rat faeces.’ The San Souci building, which is owned by GBN, was severely damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The facility is still being used in its dilapidated condition, with GBN renting two other premises to carry on operations. Mr. Humphrey, who represents Labour in the Upper House Parliament, has charged that GBN has failed in its promises as a national communications provider, and has made no ‘significant investment’ for the improvement of GBN. He is suggesting that the network’s foreign majority ownership should be re-examined by the state. “The majority shareholders have performed poorly in respect of the physical condition of the facility and have subjected the employees to inhumane working conditions. The shareholders seem more interested in siphoning off money to other places by various charges,” said the leader of TAWU, Grenada’s largest trade union. Apart from Sen. Humphrey, other Grenadians have been writing and calling Ministry of Information officials to also complain about the quality of GBN programming. Last October, the ministry was flooded with phone calls and e-mails from Grenadians who were irate at obscene-filled music that was being played early one morning on the GBN-owned Klassic AM 535. A letter was written to GBN’s General Manager, Ruel Edwards, by Senator Arley Gill, Minister with Responsibility for Information. Operation Manager Clarence C. Baker, in response to the letter, confirmed that several listeners rang GBN expressing concerns related to the songs ‘of explicit obscenity being played on our radio station.’ Mr. Baker said he had launched an immediate investigation into the matter. Many complainants have suggested that with the recent hiring of a media practitioner, well-known for her close ties with the opposition NNP, that news and other programming at GBN have taken a not-so-subtle agenda, bordering on an anti-government bias. The majority shares in GBN (60 percent) are owned by the Caribbean Communications Network (CCN), a subsidiary of One Caribbean Media (OCM) Limited. In 2005, the Trinidad-based CCN and Nation Corporation of Barbados entered into a merger agreement that led to the formation of OCM. For 12 years, CCN has been the major player at GBN, where the Grenada government has 40 percent ownership. A local media observer, who describes himself as a ‘news junkie,’ says he often questions the judgment of the GBN News Director and reporters in the selection of stories. “Priority is frequently given to items that appear to have little or no news value, and stories too often seem manufactured to create controversy,” he claimed. “Perhaps, it’s either with an agenda in mind or to boost GBN ratings, which clearly have been dipping.” The observer, a retired media worker, said he couldn’t understand the attempt at controversy by GBN in taking issue with this year’s carnival theme, “We Playing Ah Wicked Mas.” “All of us - not just in Grenada, but also in the rest of the Caribbean - have for generations established a vocabulary of words with our own contemporary and conventional meaning,” he said. “That GBN will pretend that the word ‘wicked,’ used in relation to masquerading, could somehow be misconstrued for the historical meaning of wicked, is beyond me. I wonder why no issue was taken with the word when it was used as part of the title of a popular 2009 calypso?” Outspoken Sen. Humphrey agrees that the ‘independence and objectivity’ of GBN news leaves much to be desired. In his view, the Grenada government is not treated as a shareholder and ought to consider reacquiring majority shares in the network. “This is a needed strategic move and it will bring the long relief that GBN workers are justifiably due,” Sen. Humphrey added. One former employee with more than 30 years employment beginning with WIBS and ending with GBN has been virtually ignored since his retirement. The network, including its general manager and some members of the board of directors, has shown no interest in assisting him financially or otherwise. The technician received nothing on retirement and is currently unemployed.