Isaac suspicious that agreement between ABS and China Media Group could signal repression of independent press here

United Progressive Party Chairman D.Gisele Isaac is looking with
suspicion at the just-signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
between the China Media Group and the Antigua and Barbuda
Broadcasting Services (ABS).

During the January 29 edition of Progressive FM’s Eye on the Issues,
Isaac asked exactly what this collaboration might involve – apart
from technical improvement.

Isaac acknowledged that cooperation between the two countries
certainly has been productive for both. However, she notes that this
particular agreement makes her uneasy, since the People’s Republic
of China – as a one-political-party state – does not support the
practice of free media; not even free social media.

The UPP chair – a journalist by profession – points out that ABS,
which is owned by the State of Antigua and Barbuda, already
operates like the public relations arm of the governing Antigua
Labour Party (ALP).

She notes that it not only excludes the views of the Opposition, as a
matter of “policy,” but also fails to report public opinions and
actions that do not support the Government.

Isaac notes, too, that the former head of Dominica’s Government
Information Services (GIS) recently took up employment with GIS
Antigua and Barbuda.

Accordingly, she says, she cannot help but wonder whether that
move, coupled with this agreement with China, is a sign of
censorship and media repression to come. And, she says, she fears
that independent and Opposition press could be in for stringent new
measures to control what information they publish.