Bigging up Jamaica’s media in 2006
This is Ken Chaplin’s assessment of the work of Jamaican media in 2006. Chaplin, a columnist with the Jamaica Observer, a leading newspaper in the country, credits the media’s work, as being responsible for decreasing the success of any propaganda machinery, especially by that of any Jamaican Government, “now or in the future”. Chaplin depicts a Jamaican media that is unbiased, objective and most of all credible. He describes the Jamaican media as a group that can be counted on by “the people”, normally dubbed “the general public”, to gain factual information that will not seek to protect the politically powerful and “pull wool” over people’s eyes. This is a bonafide big-up (in Caribbean Creole this means saying hello, what’s up or praising someone). According to Chaplin:
“If at times the press seemed overaggressive, there was justification for this because some of the ills in governance which it mirrored and magnified were recipes for economic and social instability. Professional journalists – reporters, editors and commentators who earn their livelihood from the practice of journalism – ought not to be blamed for reporting what was happening in the country. They told it as it was – accurately, fairly, impartially and without rancour or malice. All this is what objectivity, the password to quality journalism, is made of. Professional journalists ought not to be expected to turn bad news into good
news. The good performance of professional journalists reflected to a large extent the training given by the Caribbean Institute of Media Communication at the University of the West Indies (Jamaica, Mona Campus). Of course the press made errors, but these were few and far between. Blame must be attributed to the poor performance of the government whose radar was too much on retaining power.It was not a particularly good year in many areas of national life, especially in government and politics, and the press had a field day. The economy staggered along, social services like health care, education and sanitation deteriorated, crime was out of control, the new highways were lovely to drive on, but they were awful to reach as almost all the internal roads were in a state of disrepair. The press carried the cry by the poor for justice across the plains, into the valleys and up the hills…”
“Professional journalists, including commentators, have to be set apart from those who write columns. There are columnists who are quite independent and others who serve special interests. However, in a country where freedom of expression is highly regarded, the mix is serving us well. The country needs more professional journalists writing columns. When I joined the Press Association of Jamaica in the l950s people who worked for newspapers, magazines and radio and television were eligible for ordinary (full) membership. Public relations officers and information officers for the state and firms were honorary members because they served special interests and were not considered journalists. But things have changed and the category of ordinary membership has been broadened.”
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment