Within the past decade, attention in the Commonwealth Caribbean has focused on the implications of broadcasting for development policies. The relationship between Caribbean governments and the broadcast industry has generally been close and cordial as a result of the small size of the countries and the reality of government ownership of a large proportion of broadcasting. The most significant movements toward formulating coherent national policy on the role of the media have occurred in two countries that have adopted a socialist ideology--Guyana and Jamaica. Though there is a similarity between the governmental approaches to the broadcast media, there are some subtle but significant differences: (1) while the Jamaican approach expresses an unwillingness to dictate policy even to government-owned broadcasting services, the Guyana Broadcasting Service is unapologetically used as an arm of the government; and (2) whereas the broadcasting service in Guyana is a tool for national development emphasizing community participation, the media in Jamaica have an obligation to give voice to all currents of opinion in the society. The task of Caribbean communication researchers is to examine whether, despite its goals, the techniques and forms of development communication are such that they will create a stifling information environment. Caribbean researchers must also give attention to molding and modifying the development service communication concept to reflect third world and, particularly, Caribbean concepts of social development. (HOD)