Dan Callikan, a former laureate of the Royal College in Port Louis, had a rich political career. He served as an advisor and director of the MBC under two Prime Ministers, including SAJ and Navin Ramgoolam. His political involvement began with the MMMSP in 1973. Le Matinal Media extends its deepest condolences to the bereaved family and to all those all grieving peoplegues and friends at MBC have paid him a heartfelt tribute on social networks, here are two of them:
Trilock Dwarka: We owe him the launch of the Bhojpuri and Creole channels
Young, brilliant and a fine strategist who started out alongside Dev Virahsawmy and others in the MMMSP, he became, in the early 1980s, a key political advisor to Sir Anerood Jugnauth, who was not happy about the erosion of his electorate following differences with other leaders of his party. Then came the split between the MMM and the PSM and the emergence of the MSM. After the 1983 elections, Dan Callikan was seen as a kind of master thinker for SAJ and his government. His ideas were to play an important role in the new architecture of the MBC’s information policy: the reinstallation of the French language on the 7:30 p.m. newscast, the broadcasting of a summary in Creole at the end of the newscast, the maintenance of Creole-language headlines at the program level, and an openness – albeit subtly controlled – to political forces as well as a better representation of the views of both unions and civil society at the MBC. It was a compromise in an ‘unstable balance’ defined by Dan Callikan, which had to be quickly adopted by the political will at the national station level.
Dan was the voice of the Prime Minister at the MBC where he tried to guide or teleguide this policy in detail to avoid mistakes that could have cost the country dearly in terms of national unity. He became General Manager of the MBC in 1986 with the agenda of restructuring the institution, diversifying the content of the programs and above all, expanding the editorial staff of the MBC from about 20 employees to more than 60 in three years.
Dan Callikan switched to the Labor camp following Dr. Ramgoolam’s appeal after the defeat of the Labor Party in 2000. He launched a new daily newspaper, The Gazette, in support of the party while acting as a key aide to Navin Ramgoolam before returning to the PM’s office as an advisor following Labor’s victory in 2005. Callikan was again appointed Managing Director of MBC in 2009 and remained in that position until 2014. He was responsible for the launch of the Bhojpuri and Creole channels.
Ashok Beeharry: He is at the root of the advent of new technologies
Dan Callikan is undoubtedly the father of MBC’s transformation. He is the DG who is behind the advent of new technologies, the recruitment of broadcasting professionals, the profound restructuring of the station and the development of MBC in Rodrigues.
