T&T gov't won't get media control in CL bailout

CL Financial is a minority shareholder in One Caribbean Media Ltd (OCM), which is the parent company of the Trinidad Express and CCN TV6, as well as Hott 93.5FM. It is also the parent company of National Publishing and Starcom Network in Barbados, Grenada Broadcasting Network and radio stations which cover St Lucia, St Kitts, Antigua and Montserrat.

But the bailout at Cl doesn't give the Government of Trinidad and Tobago any kind of control over the the OCM media group and the organization's chairman warned in an interview with the Trinidad that his board would resist an attempt to encroach of the editorial independence of the media group.

OCM chairman Sir Fred Gollop told the paper while CLICO had been a minority shareholder of OCM, the group's bylaws do not automatically give CLICO, or any other shareholders, a seat on the OCM board.

Sir Fred told the paper the T&T Government has not yet made clear its intentions with regard to the CLICO holdings of the OCM shares, but he added that the board views any acquisition of the shares by Government as having the potential to compromise "our long-established and cherished editorial independence and freedom of the press, and that any attempt to encroach on that independence will be firmly resisted".

He said OCM is looking forward to working with the Central Bank-appointed board and management of CLICO, if and when the matter of the OCM shares in the company's investment portfolio is reviewed, to "discuss the mechanisms for the orderly and transparent disposition of the shares".

CLICO also owns its own media group that includes Video Associates, one of the leading production companies in Trinidad and Tobago and a network of radio stations that cater to niche audiences.