VTV Adventure

Get ready for a real James Bond experience: a trip to the Industrial Island. The boat met Gary and me at jetty #1 and we cruised up to a dock near an oil tank farm. It was like the part of the movie when 007 visits the facility where the evil mastermind is plotting to take over the world.
Except that we were with the technical crew for a brand new TV station, VTV, owned by the richest Maldivian, Gassim Ibrhahim. He also owns the country's only oil company as well as a chain of resorts. Our host, Thoyyib, came to VTV from TVM and he's a bright guy. We walked on a dusty road past the oil tanks, a cement storage area and a commercial boatyard to reach the station.

Inside, everything is modern, digital state of the art. They hope to go on the air later this year with four hours of programming per day, including a newscast. Here's a look at where the news set will be, with the window to the news control room in the background and the current affairs set on the other side of the room.The picture on the test signal is gorgeous. They also have a software program that will allow newscasts to be produced on the computer in Dhivehi, developed by Korean and Singaporean programmers. They won't have to backtime by hand or slide pieces of paper through the teleprompter, as TVM does for lack of software that can use the Thanaa font. What they don't have is program content or talent, although they are working on some creative ideas. A few VTV newscasters working in Male are doing practice news programs once a week and they are an eager bunch (see earlier post). But there will be a logistical nightmare because the news studio is a 20 minute boat ride away on the Industrial Island.

What the do have is money and already VTV has made offers to some TVM newscasters to switch stations for two or three times their salary. Most are staying at TVM out of loyalty or because they are civil service and they dont' want to take a chance working for a private company that might go under. Salaries at TVM will go up when it is reorganized as a public broadcaster next year and they will no longer be constrained by civil service.

Meanwhile, there is a real need to provide training for the private broadcasters so that everyone will be on the same page as far as journalistic ethics in their newscasts. The Information Ministry sees compettion as a benefit for everyone and they've given me the green light to explore the possibility of a training program for the private broadcasters.
We never got to the part where the villain tells James Bond about the evil plot and then tries to kill him. Instead, we had breakfast in the VTV cafeteria. Thanks, Thoyyib, for a great visit.