Television's Final Frontier

The New York Times article “Television’s Final Frontier” by Peter de Jonge discusses the monumental introduction of TV broadcasting in Bhutan in August of 1999. In a county where 85% of the nation still supports itself on subsistence agriculture, the average income is $550, and serfdom didn’t become illegal until 1958, Bhutan is well accustomed to belated cultural transformations. However, at the time of TV’s introduction in 1999, no one was quite sure what its impact would entail.

Ironically, the King is hoping that TV’s induction will set Bhutan father along the “Middle Path,” which is what an official planning document named Bhutan’s determination “top access the latest technologies without losing its distinct national self.” Indeed, the government is hoping that Bhutan Broadcasting Service, or BBS, will broadcast programs that reinforce this national identity instead of homogenizing it.

BBS’s first broadcast was of the King’s address to 15,000 of his subjects in the Changlingmithang sports stadium regarding television. The program ended with a performance of tshilebey, a chain dance which ends all of Bhutan’s major celebrations.

Sonam Tshong, the man in charge of BBS and its development, holds immense power through his novel broadcasting capabilities. There were only about 3,000 televisions distributed throughout the nation in 1999 and 30,000 total viewers. Surprisingly, de Jonge made the following observation while visiting a Bhutanese family: “the images on the TV contrast abruptly with the lifesize painting of Buddha in the prayer room next door, where Amin’s father has built an elaborate altar with row upon row of sacrificial water dishes and butter lamps, there is no indication that the family elders are the least bit discomforted by the boogie-woogieing.” Although this seems to bode well for TV’s career in Bhutan, de Jonge ends his article on an ominous note, doubtful that the Bhutanese youth will continue to conform to the national dress code among other regulations once they have been exposed to the wide world of television. He asks, “How much longer will the people of Bhutan—43% of whom are 15 or under—be happy to turn all these matters over to their wise elders?” He further comments, “History strongly suggests that few people will choose to spend eight hours a day knee deep in mud behind an ox if there’s an alternative.” Personally, I am hopeful that Bhutan is a historical anomaly.