Barbados will be the host of the 56th CBU Annual General Assembly, taking place from August 18 to 21, 2025 under the theme, “the Media and Caribbean Arts and Culture.’
This was announced during the CBU 55th Assembly, held under the theme “Media and the Environment” in Placencia Belize. The Chair of the Local Organising Committee for the next year’s Assembly is Anthony Greene, General Manager of Starcom Network. The other CBU members on the Committee are: the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, the Barbados Government Information Service and UWI-TV, headquartered at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies.
CARIBBEAN MEDIA PRIORITISE CLIMATE CHANGE COVERAGE AND RESILIENT OPERATIONS
At the 55th CBU Assembly last week Caribbean media executives, regulators, independent producers and media educators highlighted the need for the issue of climate change to be top of the agenda for the region.
With the full endorsement of the Prime Minister of Belize, the Hon John Briceno, and the Secretary General of CARICOM, Dr. Carla Barnett, the region’s media recommitted to ensuring audiences and stakeholders prioritised this issue.
Among the resolutions passed during the Plenary session, the members of the CBU agreed that in the same way programming and publications have dedicated spaces for, news, sports, business and weather content, the environmental threats to the existence of the Caribbean must be integrated into their productions.
The CBU members also took note of the advanced efforts of industry players outside of the region such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, ZDF of Germany and the Public Media Alliance (PMA) to incorporate environmentally friendly and sustainable practices as part of their every-day operations.
CBU PRESIDENT’S AWARD 2024 TO CCCCC
The CBU’s commitment was demonstrated through the presentation of the 2024 President’s Award to the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) for the CARICOM agency’s work in its nearly twenty years of existence and support to the regional media in capacity building.
CARIBBEAN MEDIA CONSULT WITH CARICOM SECRETARY GENERAL
The media execs session with the CARICOM Secretary General, Dr. Barnett addressed the challenges for CARICOM as well as the media sector in authentically engaging young people, as well as mis and disinformation. CBU and the Secretariat will be defining strategies and actions on these and other high priority issues.
MEDIA RESILIENCE – UNESCO EMERGENCY BROADCAST EQUIPMENT
The Assembly also featured a ceremonial signing of agreements to handover to selected members a strategic tool in ensuring the resilience of the media sector, especially in the wake of disasters. The donation by UNESCO of emergency broadcast equipment, also known as “Radio in a Box” to CBU members in Antigua & Barbuda, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Barbados was seen as a critical element of ensuring the media continue to provide critical relief and recovery communication, even when their main transmission infrastructure is damaged by hurricanes and other hazard events.
CBU BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2024-26
The election of officers saw the return to the Presidency for her second term of Dr. Claire Grant from the RJRGLEANER Communications Group based in Jamaica, while the new Vice-President is Mr. Anthony Greene, General Manager of Starcom Network Inc of Barbados.
Returning to the Board were the CEO of Great Belize Productions, Ms Marleni Cuellar, CEO of the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica Mr. Keith Campbell, Manager of ZIZ Broadcasting Corporation of St. Kitts and Nevis Mr. Saju Ng’alla, Mr. Neaz Subhan, CEO of National Communications Network of Guyana and General Manager of Antigua & Barbuda Broadcasting Service Mrs Erna-Mae Brathwaite.
Elected for his first stint as a CBU Director, was Mr. Adrian Winter, CEO of TTT Limited, headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago.
Former CBU Director Mr. Chris Jarrett, Director of Radio Turks and Caicos was re-elected to the role after a break of four years.
The CBU said a fond farewell to vice-president, Mr Richard Purcell outgoing General Manager of CCN-TV 6 in Trinidad & Tobago. The Union’s membership thanked him for his invaluable service to the organisation over many years, including the hosting of the 53rdAssembly in Tobago in 2022.
