Thursday, April 9, 2020 - 09:46 Mark Viales

Opinions on the Rock are as diverse as its multilayered society suggests, but the fluidity of discourse voiced by the media mouthpiece is much more streamlined. Public money is pumped into a single TV station and, although monitored by the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority since the introduction of the Broadcasting Act of 2012, it will stick to its own agenda.

This is regardless of whether the station claims to provide balanced reports and programmes. That is inherently subjective and those involved in the media world will tell you that every publication or broadcaster has an agenda, style and its own way of doing things.

No large town or city in the size and scope of Gibraltar can suggest that having one solitary broadcaster serving an intellectual community provides sufficient media democracy. The Rock’s cosmopolitan population lives and breathes intense local and international political debate, while extremely vocal on progressive social issues that consist of different points of view. Healthy competition in a strong democratic society is necessary to showcase the different shades of the community, and increased competition to the national broadcaster will keep it on its toes.