Penny-pinching miser that I am, I have finally updated my Real-player and was able in ages to listen to the audio of GRTS news on Quantumnet. It is clear now that like everything that Jammeh centralises and leaves his fingerprints on, GRTS is now the epitome of that State ineptitude, bloated bureaucracy and political patronage that has become a hallmark of the Jammeh legacy. Every facet of efficiency, better or average that he touches, invariably leaves the soot of his dirty hands on it. GRTS staff reporters and presenters can barely pronounce words let alone properly present, report or document news items and features. Their pronunciations of commonplace words are laboured and crossovers between an infantile snivel and a third rate ventriloquist trying his luck on Broadway success. Their mannerism in front of cameras are coarse, ruggedly uncouth and bordering on pantomime display of whims comparative to only Teenage daytime TV presenting we keep being fed by satellite these days. It's gaffes since becoming operational are legendary. From Jessica Sowe sleeping in front of the cameras and the innately rude wife of the MD Fatou Dibba Saidy yelling at the camera crew to turn the glaring illuminations of the camera away from her, they have had it all. Oh and of course Caliph General Jammeh's bumbling idiocy each time he appears on TV to speak as an expert on Islam, the collapsing economy, the moneys he has stolen or laundered or racketeering and to renew his death threats to those who dare oppose him, the Heaven ordained Caliph of the Caliphate of The Gambia. You would have thought that what with all the modern technology and techno-savvy staff it employs, their should be a marked difference, but with half-charlatans like Jahumpa Ceesay and Tombong leading the charge in operations, what do you expect? These Jammeh appointed cultural commissars are as enlightened as the buffoon himself on subtle and sophisticated issues like culture in a pluralist society. GRTS has just become the bleak, churlish and obnoxiously irritating symbol of Jammeh in our daily lives. Each day it serves the same cold and un-nutritious pap that is prepared by the State House chefs to a nation hungry to be inspired by creativity, objectivity and the plurality they live each day of their lives. It's programmes [if one can call them that], are uninspirational, devoid of imagination and generally defective in every Jammeh sense. A tool for political spins, patronage and the cronyism that Jammeh said 6yrs. ago propelled him to stand up to the Jawara regime. If at any rate, GRTS has any cluster of talents that can handle professional broadcasting, they are being turned into professional eunuchs and clodhoppers by an MD who knows next to nothing on broadcasting but is depleting the outfit the little human resources it has. If you want a graphic illustration of how Gambia is sinking in efficiency during Jammeh, look no further than GRTS. That monolith of unprofessionalism, ineptitude and uninspirational broadcasting in the Gambia. Sadly you and I have to pay for it. What a tragedy! Hamjatta Kanteh We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. Karl Popper 1902-1994 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------