Drum Magazine Issue 4 | Page 73

Drum: Q & A

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World Heritage Site – The Pitons, Saint Lucia.
© Newton U Brown

on the island. Paul Boakye met up with Minister for Tourism,
Honourable Phillip J. Pierre, to discover his philosophy on
What influence does American television
and culture have on the behaviour of young
people here in Saint Lucia?
The question and the challenge we have is how to get
through to our young people. If you walk in Castries
now, you can see that the influence of American
television and culture is international, and you could
be anywhere in the world. The style is the same, the
music the same, the dancing the same, everything.
The problem that we have is how, if possible, to stem
that flow, how to reach out and reclaim our young
people. And it’s partly down to the media. What has
happened is that the press in this region has become

political. The press believes that its role is to attack
Government. They don’t look at issues like the cultural
dynamics, negative influences from abroad, or the
bridging of different Caribbean interests; their role is
to attack Government. The press has a responsibility,
and its responsibility is to inform, not to pressure.
The press has become like a pressure group.

So how do we persuade the press to act
more responsibly?
Well, you see, anybody can become a journalist in
Saint Lucia. People leave school, they have a CSE in
English, they become press people. It is the only »