Freedom of the Press - Saint Kitts and Nevis (2007)

Status: Partly Free
Legal Environment: 4 (of 30)
Political Environment: 8 (of 40)
Economic Environment: 8 (of 30)
Total Score: 20 (of 100)
(Lower scores = freer)

Freedom of the press is enshrined in the constitution. The independent media were active in 2006 and expressed a wide variety of views without restriction. One of the only notes of discord during the year came in August, when some opposition politicians expressed concerns about the appointment of Clive Bacchus, a Guyanese national and manager of the private WINN FM radio station, to the government's seven-member electoral reform consultative committee. The Democrat, the paper of the opposition People's Action Movement, suggested that Bacchus's appointment was an attempt by the ruling St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party to curb WINN FM's participation in the electoral reform debate. Bacchus was instrumental in solidifying the newly reconstituted Media Association of St. Kitts and Nevis. Both the main parties publish weekly newspapers, and there are three other nonaligned weekly newspapers. ZIZ Broadcasting Corporation, a company in which the government is a majority shareholder, operates both radio and television services, while seven private radio stations and a multichannel cable television service also operate regularly. There are no government restrictions on the internet, and approximately 25 percent of the population used the medium in 2006.