Politics in Trinidad and Tobago has changed dramatically over the decades and so has the way the public experiences it.
From a time when there was just one television station and two radio stations, to today’s 24-hour news cycle and social media environment, political messages can now reach thousands of people almost instantly.
Professor Hamid Ghany says that transformation has changed not only how politics is covered, but how it is practised.
When Trinidad and Tobago became independent in 1962, the country’s media landscape was far smaller than it is today.
Television was still in its infancy, political meetings were recorded and edited before reaching the public, and information moved at a much slower pace.
Professor Hamid Ghany speaking on the TTT’s Saturday morning Talk Show, FOCUS, says the expansion of the media has fundamentally changed the political environment.
“So you had equipment challenges and so on. So covering back in those days, going to a meeting was a big thing. I mean, you had to look at the crowds and these meetings in the night. But that wouldn’t get onto the air until the next day when someone did the editing and all of that. Meetings nowadays go live right away. You’re on the air. So the psyche of the politics has changed. The manner in which politics is delivered has changed.”
And the change has not stopped with television and radio.
The rise of social media means political statements, parliamentary exchanges and campaign moments can now be clipped, shared and viewed almost immediately.
But Dr Ghany warns that speed can also come at the expense of context.
He says the public has to be more discerning about what it sees and hears.
“Well, context is important. So you take a snippet out and so on. The comment that comes right after the comment that was made just before might explain the whole thing. But if you just cut that and you see that, then you may form an opinion based on that. And that is some of what goes on.”
Despite the changes in media and political communication, Dr Ghany says the country’s democratic system has continued to evolve.
And as the country looks ahead, another major force is already reshaping the information landscape artificial intelligence.
For Ghany, the challenge is not whether Trinidad and Tobago will encounter these changes, but how the country chooses to respond to them.