Getting Information in the Fourth World

In a previous article I mentioned the only two commercial television stations in Jamaica.

For many years, Jamaica had Radio Jamaica and Rediffusion.   We got everything from that station, or from the BBC which was broadcast twice a day, at eight am and eight pm, or had shortwave radios so we could connect to the world.

Those who live in first world countries with a number of news sources, (pre-Internet) do not understand what it is like to have had One Newspaper, The Gleaner, and one Radio Station, RJR, and one television Station.

How news is reported became more significant than what… for many of the presenters betrayed attitudes by pauses, pronunciation, and expression.   The Talk Shows were also used to get opinions across.  If you didn’t agree or weren’t comfortable,  you would listen to the BBC, which was a little better.

Originally our television station came on about 9 am and went off at 11 pm.   The shows were what was served up.  There wasn’t much choice.

More radio stations came up and people listened to this one or that one.   Other newspapers tried to compete, but it wasn’t until 1993 that another Newspaper, The Observer came into being, and soon became the leading paper.

Not that there is divergence, but one Paper may focus on specific topics more than others, one might have more interesting commentators.

In the same year, CVM, another Television Station came into existence.

This caused JBC; which had been the only station, to suddenly perk up and try to get better shows, and fill the time from 8 am to 11 pm with shows people want to watch.   JBC also changed its name to TVJ.

In first few years, there was real competition, for CVM grabbed onto the CSI series, where TVJ was into Law & Order.

As time passed, there was Cable, which replaced ‘satellite’ television.

Now one can appreciate, if living in a 4th world nation with two television stations, where the viewership is not so great, (considering the expense of a set, the electricity costs, and the fact there are few things most people care to see),  getting a chance to watch on line becomes the discovery of a new world.

One can understand why many governments want to restrict Internet access, and why many news services have dumbed down their reports.  Too many people have the chance to know what is going on.

Even those of us who think we know what is happening in the world have to be very careful not to fall victim to propaganda, to tricks, to ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’.

Especially now when America has the Master of Deception as their President.

Trump lauded his first 100 days with one lie after another.

Creating jobs?  Name them.   There aren’t any.  There are no new jobs created in those 100 days.

Opening Coal Mines?   Where?  In Perry County, 460 were laid off in 2012.   90 have been rehired.

The fact that to expose these lies in America takes effort that Americans rarely needed to exert, has tipped reality on its head.

Americans used to have a Free Press and expose everything.   All news would pour from America, then Britain, and those of us in the Fourth World would have to get glimpses of what CNN was saying or what was coming over the BBC.

Now, with Press Freedom under attack in America, with many people stupid enough to believe Trump’s ‘Fake News’  attacks on the respected agencies, and lauding of those no one with a full deck of cards would listen to, we, NOT in America get a lot more information than those who are.

Jamaica has no vested interested in ‘protecting’ the American Administration.   It doesn’t have to block access. And those from other parts of the world can do a Search and get information from various sources.

Where Trump can lie and fool the American people, those outside of America have no reason to suppress the truth.

It is amazing to learn how many people in America have stopped listening to the News, and that those in the 3rd and 4th World make it their duty, especially to get information from a number of sources.

Today, it is far easier to expose Trump’s lies if one is sitting in Kingston or Kinshasa then it is if one is sitting in Kentucky.