Barbados - Media

Automatic telephone service is provided by a private firm, the Barbados Telephone Co. Ltd.; there were about 108,000 mainline telephones as of 1997, with an additional 8,013 cellular phone subscribers. A wireless telephone service provides overseas communications, and a telex cable connects Barbados with the UK. The Congor Bay Earth Station, opened in 1972, links Barbados with the global satellite communications system.

Barbados has a government-controlled television and radio broadcasting service (The Caribbean Broadcasting System–CBS) and a commercial rediffusion service that broadcasts over a cable network. In 2001, there were six radio stations, two of which were owned by CBS. The country's only television station is also owned by CBS. In 1997, there were about 237,000 radios and 76,000 television sets in use throughout the country.

There are two major daily newspapers (both independently operated, in Bridgetown), the Advocate (circulation 15,000 in 2002) and the Daily Nation (32,000), as well as some periodicals, including a monthly magazine, the New Bajan.

The Constitution of Barbados provides for freedom of expression and the government is said to uphold freedom of speech and press. The government prohibits the production of pornographic materials.