Antigua and Barbuda Culture

Antigua and Barbuda Culture and Mass Media

Newspapers in Antigua and Barbuda

According to COMMIT4FITNESS.COM, Antigua and Barbuda is a country located in North America. The spread of newspapers in Antigua and Barbuda is relatively limited. The Daily Observer is the only daily newspaper, and has an edition of about 6,000 copies. About the same size is the weekly opposition newspaper The Outlet, body of the Antigua Caribbean Liberation Movement. Freedom of the press is circumscribed.

Radio and TV are mainly operated by the state-owned company Antigua and Barbuda Broadcasting Service (ABS, founded in 1956). Private radio is also present, and TV channels from mainly the United States are transmitted via satellite and cable. There are 543 radio and 443 TV sets per 1,000 residents (2000).

Culture

Author Jamaica Kincaid (born 1949) hails from Antigua but she has been living in the United States for 17 years. Among other things, she has portrayed her upbringing on Antigua and her arrival in the United States.

Several of Kincaid’s books have been translated into Swedish, such as the short story collection On the bottom of the river and the novel My mother – an autobiography (which is not an autobiography and is about a woman without children).

Mass Media

The range of newspapers is limited. Important ones are the independent daily newspaper Daily Observer and The Worker’s Voice, which is published twice a week. Press freedom is usually respected.

In the media, different views are reflected, including criticism of those in power. However, several privately owned media have ties to political parties and are not independent in their reporting. According to the Freedom House, it appears that journalists are harassed and subjected to physical attacks by unknown perpetrators who disobey their guard.

In addition to state radio and television, there are some advertising-funded channels and a radio station run by a church community (Baptists). The islanders can also watch cable TV from the USA via the channel CTV Entertainment Systems.

Antigua is one of the most densely mobile countries in the region and two out of three residents used the internet in 2016.

FACTS – MASS MEDIA

Percentage of the population using the internet

76 percent (2017)

Number of mobile subscriptions per 100 residents

193 (2017)

Antigua and Barbuda Culture

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