Youth Participate in Public Media Access Consultation

The first of two Youth and Public Media Access consultations was hosted by the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ), on June 15, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

Organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information; the Broadcasting Commission and the Social Development Commission, the forum was aimed at consulting with young persons to create content relevant to the needs of today’s youth.

State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, who spoke at the opening ceremony, said the activity is one of several measures being implemented by the Government to actively engage youth in policy formulation.

“We believe they are ready to guide the Government in what they want to see implemented for their country. We want our young people to be integral in that determining process,” he argued.

The State Minister pointed out that the National Youth Policy 2015 to 2030 is before the Human Resource Committee of the Cabinet, after which it will be presented to Cabinet and then tabled in Parliament.

He noted that the policy will formalise the Government’s efforts to give greater voice to youth on national development issues.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the PBCJ, Gladstone Wilson, said the agency wants to hear from the youth “what their experiences are with social media and other media, how do they access these, what kind of access they would like to see as well as what kind of programmes”.

“If we can get them to buy into this concept, it will change how media is accessed by young people in Jamaica,” he added.

Some 30 participants between 14 and 22 years of age, from St. Thomas, St. Mary, Kingston and St. Andrew, Portland, St. Catherine and Clarendon, took part in the forum.

Several topics were addressed by media industry experts, including ‘Characteristics of Youth Cohorts’; ‘Content Interest and Preferred Time of Day’; ‘Popular Media Platforms of Public Media’; ‘Education – Use of Public Media for Teaching; ‘Subject Preferences’, ‘Organising an Effective Means of Transmission’; and ‘Practical Steps to Organise Citizen Reporters to Compile Short-Duration Content and News’.

The forum also featured a presentation by Executive Director of the Broadcasting Commission, Cordel Green, on ‘Content and New Technology’.

The other consultation will be staged in the western section of the island to accommodate youth from Westmoreland, St. James, Hanover, Trelawny, St. Ann and Manchester.

PBCJ offers radio and television and new media production services as well as provides library and archive information.