Majority acquisition of Radio Jamaica condemned by union

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Jamaican-born, Canadian billionaire, Mr Michael Lee-Chin’s desire to acquire majority shares in Radio Jamaica Limited has been condemned by the trade union movement.

Addressing a meeting of the Rotary Club of New Kingston on May 14, vice-president of the Joint Confederation of Trade Unions, (JCTU) Danny Roberts, said narrow control of the media was inherently bad as no small group can be sufficiently open and flexible to reflect the richness and variety of a society.

Defending the Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP) model implemented at Radio Jamaica, Mr Roberts cautioned against "seeking to democratise governance while monopolising ownership of such an important social institution as the media. The trade union movement supports the ESOP model, which has laid the basis for broad representative ownership through mass-based organisations."

In a recent call, Mr Lee-Chin condemned the restrictive clause which limits his shareholding in Radio Jamaica to 10 per cent, saying it was not good for the company and that successful businesses needed to have a dominant shareholder.

However, according to Mr Roberts, the media was not just another business. According to Mr Roberts, the media have several responsibilities.

• The media can attract and direct attention to problems, solutions or people in ways which can favour those with power and correlatively divert attention from rival individuals or groups.

• The mass media can confer status and confirm legitimacy.

• The media can be a channel for persuasion and mobilisation.

• The media are vehicles for offering psychological rewards and gratification.

• The media has a public responsibility which does not fit well with concentrated ownership. Noting the current trend of concentration of ownership in the developed world, the JCTU vice-president cited examples in countries like Australia, the United States and Canada, adding the situation was particularly bad in Canada, where 84 per cent of the media was owned by the five largest media companies in that country.

Mr Roberts called on media workers, the trade union movement and civil society to stand against any attempt or threat to remove restrictive laws thus clearing the way for concentrated ownership of the media to take place.

Michael Lee-Chin is chairman and chief executive of Canada-based AIC, which he turned from a CDN$800,000 mutual fund in 1985 into Canada's largest privately-owned mutual fund company.

He personally owns more than 90 per cent of AIC, giving him a net worth of about CDN$1.7 billion and is ranked by Canadian Business magazine as the 14th wealthiest person in that country. He is also listed as the 303rd wealthiest person in the world, by Forbes magazine.

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