By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

AN emotional Clint Watson said leaving Office of the Prime Minister’s press secretary role to become the new general manager of the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas was not an easy decision.

He insisted he was not forced out.

“This is not easy for me because we enjoy such a great relationship, and we can do so much more together,” he said.

Mr Watson said he is putting the country first by moving to ZNS.

“I’m not being forced out”, he said. “They are telling every minute of the day, ‘you don’t have to go you know, you can stay.’ It’s the same thing for the prime minister.”

“This was not easy for him because we’ve worked very well together, extremely well. I’m pleased and honoured that he is pleased with my work. I support him 100 per cent and what he does.”

“For everyone involved, it is not easy. It wasn’t the easiest decision to make, but I believe that it’s necessary, and it’s going to benefit at the end of the day.”

OPM officials have not said who will succeed Mr Watson. However, Keishla Adderley is the deputy press secretary.

Mr Watson served as news director of Eyewitness News before joining the Davis administration. Before that, he was a reporter and editor at ZNS.

Communications Director Latrae Rahming said he would miss Mr Watson as a colleague and friend.

Mr Watson said he does not believe ZNS is headed in the wrong direction.

“I think it’s in the right direction and so what I want to do is accelerate where it’s trying to get to its goal,” he said.

“We want to do a lot more as far as news programming, a lot more as far as television programming entertainment, with radio entertainment.”

“And so there are a number of things together with a team that we want to do to ensure that ZNS and the Broadcasting Corporation is the choice for entertainment and news and information and not just an option, but it is people’s first choice.”

He dismissed a question about whether ZNS is too biased.

“People say partial, but I believe ZNS does its job,” he said. “I mean if you look at its competitors, many people can say they’re partial. They focus on maybe their area or expertise or their focus is on whoever pays their bills. So I think its unfair to classify ZNS as partial because it’s operated and run by the government.”

“Any government entity around the world in media, their focus and attention is on what government is doing. That’s not partiality –– that’s the mandate of state-run enterprises anywhere. BBC, CBC in Canada –– state-run enterprises, their intention and their purpose is to make sure that its citizen is aware of what government is doing, what government programmes are, how they can access them. That’s their focus.”