The Politics: Jamaica

Just a little outline of the government to further understand the politics of Jamaica:
Jamaica, a partially independent nation since 1962, has two main political parties; the People's National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).  The country modeled its government after the UK; it had a parliament system, which includes a prime minister, or representative to Queen Elizabeth, Jamaica's Chief of State.

The PNP was founded in the late 1930s and is a democratic, liberal party, and the JLP is a conservative, right-winged party that was founded in the Early 1940s.  Currently, the JLP is in power and has been since they won elections in 2007 with its leader, Bruce Golding.

So, as we can see, the Jamaican government is formed much like the UK and even the US government, especially because of the presence of only two, non-religiously- affiliated government parties.  One, like the US is conservative, and the other is liberal and the balance of powers happens within both the Executive and Legislative Branches.  Unlike the US, Jamaica's Judiciary system is unrelated.

Jamaica News: First Week of May 2011

This week's headlines in Jamaica are about 90% unrelated in all three media sources I have been following; The Gleaner, The Observer and RJR News.  Most stories are about local issues, including some feature stories.  There was some reporting about shifts in government and political activity, but many stories covered, especially in the Observer are human interest stories. 

The featured story for today in The Observer's "News" section was "Ex-gangster has a peace vision for Jamaica".  It's about Courtney Morris' journey from being an ex-gangster who finally turned his life around after the death of a friend and nearly losing his mother.  Nowadays, he is campaigning to fight gang violence and activity in his small town of Jarret Lane. Click here to view full story.

In The Jamaica Gleaner, the Ministry is beginning to regulate pharmacies because of suspected use of methamphetamine.  It is suggested that people are purchasing drugs from pharmacies to extract pseudoephedrine, an ingredient used in the creation of meth. See more on Ministry regulating drug use.

Regionally, the sources discuss Trinidad's new sex offender registry, Haiti's cholera spread to Asia, and what I found most interesting, is the new effort toward free press in the Caribbean, as reported in RJR News.  Apparently, this past Tuesday was "World Press Freedom Day", so the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) took this day as an opportunity to change libel laws.  They also mentioned that most Caribbean countries still do not have access to all information.  Read the full story here. 

Although it's a short story, it describes the universal nature of press laws and politicians, which is an issue even the US continues to battle with.

Who Else is Covering Jamaica's Breaking News?

For this entry, I wanted to research the United States' coverage on Jamaica, so why not use one of our countries' most well-respected source of news? The New York Times has a section of "Breaking World News: Jamaica", which contains archived articles about the on-goings of the said nation, dating back as far as the 1980s.  Unfortunately, however, the latest posting on this database, (which is supposed to be breaking news), discusses food, "oxtail soup", to be specific.  Although it is a well-written article, one would expect something different from a section titled, "Breaking News".

The next article, organized chronologically from latest to oldest, was written in August of last year.  This article was of more serious matters; gang-related killings.
Is this to say that Jamaica has not had any breaking news? I think not.

This is an image from a reggae music special aired by BBC.

What is most likely the issue surrounding the lack of coverage of Jamaica is simply that Jamaica is not within our jurisdiction.

The BBC, however, has a "country profile" for Jamaica, obviously because of the UK's colonization of the island.  The profile includes culture, media, prominent figures and demographic data, but as far as breaking news goes, still no sign.

It's CARNIVAL!

Both The Jamaica Gleaner and the Jamaica Observer covered the annual event in Trinidad, one of Jamaica's neighbor Caribbean islands.  It is a festival of colorful costumes, culture, music, art and food.  

The Jamaica Observer covered the event, which was held in early March of this year.  The article discusses the globalization of "Carnival", as well as the opinions of people who support and oppose the now international event. 

The article, first appearing in "Black Voices", coins the term "commercialized" when discussing globalization.  The article poses the questions of whether the growth and expansion (essentially the globalization) of Carnival is diluting the countries' tradition and culture that is the basis for the event.

The pros and cons are clearly stated in the article, including that "commercialization" is good for the economy, but that it is losing its original cultural value.

This argument aligns with the frequent discussions of benefits and hindrances globalization has on every nation, especially developing nations, and ironically, arguments for either side are universal in content around the world. 

Language in Jamaica Media

Though Jamaican media is closely modeled after both British and US media, its different lingo is worth mentioning.  Tact is used at a much lesser degree. 

Upon reading Jamaican Observer headlines and stories over the past few months, I discovered that both the tone and language would be considered inappropriate in the US.  The stories containing the most graphic language are those regarding violence and/or deaths, but it seems that censorship in violent content is overlooked.  Jamaica is obviously considered to have a different dialect than American English, but is that to blame for its blunt reporting?

These two stories that were covered by the Jamaica Observer are examples of stories that contain harsh language.  One was titled, "I Clobbered Him With the Hot Dutch Pot Cover", and another is called, "Man Chops Ex-Girlfriend's Family Then Hangs Himself"

The first story, interestingly, is written in the form of a feature story.  It discusses how a woman's longtime experience causes her to "retaliate" against her abusive husband.  The story even includes a clip-art-looking visual of a man and woman fighting.  The tone of the article is light and borderline ridicules the topic. 

The second story briefly covers a homicide and suicide.  The headline uses the word, "chops" and forms of repeatedly throughout the article.  I found this offensive, and I think the writer, editor and whole publication lacks sensitivity to violent subjects. 

These stories illusstrate the biggest cultural differences in comparison with the US regarding the reporting of violence.


After researching more articles from different news sources, including the Jamaican Gleaner, The Star and RJR News, I found that it was only the Observer releasing such graphic headlines.

The Impact of Media Conglomerates in Jamaica

As we know, the two main media conglomerates are The RJR News Company and the Gleaner Company.  They own the largest percentage of media sources ranging from print, broadcast and internet news. 
For those Jamaicans who have smart phones, which is where many people get their news nowadays, they will probably be downloading the application mentioned in my last entry, "Jamiaca".  Also mentioned before is the fact that this application has access only to news sources from the conglomerate companies. 
The impact that conglomerates have on the Jamaican public is not necessarily negative and seems rather worldly.  Both companies strive to give an array of stories, topics and perspectives.  Unlike many of our media giants in the US, these companies are not partisan.  They may not show equally both sides of each story, whether political, economic or social, they cover stories and update them accurately and accordingly.
With these two companies giving a spectrum of information, unbiasedly, the objective of swaying the public is not really there, and they seem to have a true definition of free press. 
The island being as small as it is, most of the top stories and headlines are based on local issues; violence, small businesses and very minimally based on politics and world news. 

The Big Dogs: Who Owns Jamaica's Media?

Just like any other country, Jamaica has a media system controlled by large conglomerates.  Jamaica, being a nation of just over two and a half million, has three major conglomerates controlling the news.

The RJR Communications Group owns and operates seven networks, including three radio stations, three television stations and a multimedia news group.  The business began with 
"Seven brands with international appeal - bringing you the best in news, current affairs, human interest stories, sports, family entertainment and great music." -RJR Communications Group

Another major news conglomerate is The Gleaner Company, who owns a total of nine other media sources; including two print publications and seven other news sources available online.  The Jamaican Gleaner is the oldest and best known publication in Jamaica.

Between these two news conglomerates, Jamaica's source of news media is limited, but not really parallel in content.  Both companies have brief, concise stories surrounding human interest and local crime.  Some information is concerning neighboring Caribbean islands, but covers almost nothing internationally, with the exception of Jamaica's relations with the UK.  Jamaica media seems occupied with its own local and national issues and the amount of globalization, relatively speaking, is minimal.

I recently downloaded an application for my iPhone, titled, "Jamaica".  It contains news from "The Jamaican Gleaner", "The Jamaica Observer", "The Star" and a section called "Topix", which includes world news.  The application illustrates the Jamaican media conglomerates.