Carnival, CNMG, Copyright and Gayelle

February 17, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

I would just like to point out that I'm supporting Gayelle here in Trinidad, that someone suing for coverage of what is labeled a cultural event is reprehensible.

I'd like to see everyone who was pictured or videoed under CNMG's copyright say that they signed a document stating that CNMG could exclusively display their images and videos for profit. Let me get this straight: people pay to play in bands, then the state owned enterprise CNMG takes the images of the people who spent money and profits from them?

Copyright. The government has taken a state owned corporation and made it in charge of commercial interests of Carnival - that's basically excising private enterprise and putting it in the hands of government. So the content that is owned by the State Owned Enterprise would belong to the government of Trinidad and Tobago which is supposed to be holding it in trust of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. What a brilliant way for the government to make money and assure more control of media in Trinidad and Tobago. A stupid tax with the capacity for censorship through a state run enterprise.

Hitler would be so proud! Not only getting the propaganda machine up but having the people subsidize it with their own spending on costumes, etc.

And who authorized CNMG getting all the Carnival Rights? Oh. Information Minister Neil Parsanlal. And it isn't as if CNMG has been getting good reviews of their coverage - far from it.

So, the question is... who is really making the money here, and why are established media enterprises like Gayelle being dissuaded from covering issues?

Hitler might be pretty proud of that, too.

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