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He was 75

In reply to Chrissy
RIP! that was gleaner and Jamaica National guy?

In reply to camos

Yep fi both.

Here

Did this country much harm in the late 70s and 80s.

In reply to Chrissy

75 years old?

That would mean that he became managing director at age 31. Wow!

Honestly, he looked way older than that in '76.

In reply to Drapsey

thought then he was about 40! I think his grand father started Westmoreland Building Society which was eventually merged into Jamaica National, the family owned hundreds of acres in Westmoreland at one point.

In reply to Chrissy

So much things to say...


First Response:


My prayer is that he rests in peace... the peace that eluded his life story and with which JA still contends today.



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In reply to camos

I'm familiar with the property in Westmoreland. I actually knew people who knew them (the family).

Just thought he was older.

In reply to Chrissy

Second response...


The Inter American Press Association has been criticized by many Latin American journalists' trade unions, who claim that it only represents the owners of the large media corporations, that it does not seem to defend journalists themselves, and that it is closely related to right-wing parties.


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In reply to Chrissy

Very sad news I had few interactions with him when I worked at the Gleaner, but I did understand that he loomed large over the editorial department. I remember working on a piece regarding an influential lawyer's wrong doing and getting a call from the lawyer who warned me that he would be speaking to Mr Clarke about my inquiries. Less than ten minutes later I could hear my editor defending the article to Mr Clarke and in the end the story was printed. But I do know that there was a negative perception of Clarke because of that Manley led march on the Gleaner in the 1970s, which is ironic because most people feel now that the Gleaner is the PNP paper. But either way I send my condolences to his family and may he rest in peace.

In reply to TyTy35

Glad you raised this. Here is the real story.

This event took place on a Monday morning. Michael was in a Cabinet meeting (which was always held on Monday mornings) when he got word of a demonstration in front of the Gleaner staged by Trevor Munroe WPJ.

It had always been a cornerstone of Michael's strategy to "control the streets of Kingston."

When he got the news of Trevor's demonstration he broke up the Cabinet meeting and assembled his crowd at the gates of the Gleaner. I don't know which crowd was bigger, WPJ or PNP but he took charge of the demonstration,, limiting himself to just those few words, "Next time. Next time." And that is all he ever said.

We still don't know whether those words were directed at Trevor Munroe or at the Gleaner Company.

Indeed, his action might also have been protective of the Gleaner!


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In reply to Ewart

Yep

In reply to Drapsey
Landilo belong to them?

In reply to Ewart

Thanks for that clarification

In reply to Ewart

Ding ding - we have a winner

In reply to Ewart Following the man over the years I get an impression that there was a change in political outlook at a point after the '70's ?

In reply to Ewart

Speaking to Truth as usual, Thanks sah..

In reply to camos

Don't know of that connection.

My connection was via Watson/Morris/Douglas of the Sav area.

BTW, not "Fooda" Watson.

In reply to Drapsey
Benup! Fooda in Connecticut .

In reply to camos

Well... you can put it that way. Here is the deal.

When Sealy left the post of Editor the Gleaner had only five columnists. He was succeeded by the JLP member and former Minister of State Hector Wynter in whose time the number of columnists went up to 15. At the expense of news reporters I might adde.

As one of them told me, the pay for their articles did not come from the Gleaner but in US dollars from well placed Jamaicans who were all pushing the anti-Manley anti-PNP line. It was a replica of the CIA's disinformation and destabilisation programme with El Mercurio.

But it cost them circulation and money. I don't know whether the Gleaner got any money directly through CIA but I would not be surprised. Here is what I have written about this:

When Mr. Wynter succeeded Theodore Sealy as Editor-in-Chief in 1976, the Gleaner’s circulation was some 88,000; when he left ten years later, that figure had been reduced by more than 50% to some 36,000. At the same time, the size of the paper shrank under him from a regular 36 pages to as few as 18 pages, another 50% drop.

To complicate matters, Wynter's departure coincided with a massive libel suit against him and his newspaper brought by former Prime Minister Michael Manley, and which was eventually settled quietly.

As to the notion that he was some sort of guardian angel for reporters, there are several members of his reporting staff at the time who will testify otherwise. Mr. Wynter fired these reporters, many of whom were endeavouring to establish a journalists’ union at the Gleaner, an echo of a similar attempt - with the same result - a quarter of a century before.

If that was not bad enough, he replaced these reporters not with other reporters but with an inflated coterie of columnists and opinion writers - including himself, writing under at least one nom-de-plume).

The number of columnists at Sealy’s departure was five. They were: John Hearne (writing as Jay Munro); Cedric Lindo (writing as Colin Gregory); Carl Stone (writing as Petras), Morris Cargill (writing as Thomas Wright) and Evon Blake (writing as Matthew Strong). You could stretch this list to six if you included a Mrs. Clarke who wrote a religious column on page three called “For the Thoughtful Reader.”

By the time of the October 1980 election, this group had been inflated to 15. The new columnists included Wilmot Perkins, Dawn Ritch, David D’Costa, “Gerald Ironside,” “Patricia Smallman,” C. Roy Reynolds, Byron Balfour, Aimee DeLisser-Webster, and Jim Hawkes.

It was during this time that Dr. Carl Stone, writing now as Carl Stone , found himself forced to comment that many of Mr. Wynter’s columnists had lost all sense of decency and objectivity and instead were concentrating mainly on personal abuse of Michael Manley, the Prime Minister. The stuff that passed for opinion on public policy was really “petty personal obsessions and hatreds,” he wrote.

It would also have been true that there was no balance, as, generally, the writers were falling over themselves to see who could best denigrate the Prime Minister and the Government. Anyone who thought that the overall objective was to get the Prime Minister and his party out of office could be forgiven for the thought.

Mr. Wynter also introduced a gossip column “Listening Post” to the Gleaner, in which rumour and innuendo, given full rein, galloped relentlessly around the truth. The result of all this was that, for a time in the late 1970s, the Gleaner was transformed from being a newspaper into a (blatantly partisan) opinion paper, a fact that perhaps contributed to its statistical decline at the time.

So, yes. Wynter's contract ran out after the 1980 election and Clarke would have been only too happy to begin rebuilding the Gleaner's finances with a better editor. That would speak directly to the question of whether Clarke turned over a new leaf. It was not quite so; it was driven not so much by politics as by finances.


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In reply to Ewart

Precisely, Oliver Clarke had only one friend, his money.

During the FINSAC years he was the Chairman of NCB until Lee-Chin paid the government what they wanted for it. He wanted NCB for nothing.

In reply to Ewart

Nailed it - don't forget Philip Agee showed up and told us.

In reply to Ewart

Yes, the Gleaner of the 1970s was a biased, right-wing newspaper that spewed out anti-Manley propaganda. We used to subscribe to the paper in those shameful days.

Fortunately, it was in a healthier, more balanced position in the 1990s, when I worked there. The editor, Dudley Stokes, took me up to meet Oliver Clarke one day. My colleagues, who really disliked Clarke, joked that I was going to "Heaven" to meet "God". They joked that they were the field slaves, and I was a house slave, since I had this honour on the plantation.

I met Clarke back then, and I must admit, I was not moved to like him from that encounter. I came away thinking that all the things my colleagues said about him were probably right.

I thought Clark was older!

In reply to mikesiva

The Gleaner has always been on that right-wing side of life.

It was started around the time of Emancipation by two Jewish merchants (DeCordovas) as an advertising sheet to advertise their products. Over the years it clothed itself in serving community interests and was a fairly balanced publication during the time Theodore Sealy was editor.

Both Norman and Michael Manley have spoken and written about the unfair treatment they received from the Gleaner. Indeed, it was Michael who introduced the paper to Carl Stone and got him inserted on the list of columnists just to bring a bit of balance.

But The Gleaner had always worked against the PNP. You might remember that the PNP won the popular vote in the 1949 election but lost the election anyway. What you might not remember was the 11th hour campaign with a front page lead story written by a previously unknown man named John Bertram, I believe, about the PNP's plans for Bogus Voting.

That story was followed up the next day with another this time by Sealy himself.

Re Oliver Clarke. At the moment he is getting deserved tributes. But there will be a time for assessment too. And that will be more in keeping with your experience.

Oliver was a very powerful man. He sought to mask it by his soft voice coming from a cherubic face. But he was more powerful than any Prime Minister and for a time he ran Jamaica from his office at the Gleaner.

His main goal, though, was to keep the Gleaner alive and financially healthy. He succeeded at that by becoming the president of the Inter-American Press Association complete with its CIA linkages, and also by cutting news and replacing it with commentary. He went down to the editorial one day and took away the editor's power over his news stories by instructing him not to publish any news story that was more than 6 inches long.

I believe that happened after he declined to extend the contract of Hector Wynter whose right-wing activities in the seventies had reduced the Gleaner's pages, popularity, sales, impact and viability.


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In reply to Ewart

fascinating info. but i am curious about something i just saw in an article... it essentially said "seaga outfoxed Shearer to become JLP leader". hoping that you or camos or one of those older than me can share some insight on that.

In reply to rudebway

Not sure about "outfoxing."

Shearer did not really want the job when Sangster died.

Seaga wanted the job. From the beginning. Pretty much the first thing he did on his return to Jamaica was to visit Norman Manley, yes, to ask for a ministerial position in the PNP.

Norman turned him down, saying he would have to work his way up like everybody else. Plus the PNP had just purged the Four H's on a claim of communism and Seaga was believed to be communist at the time. So that is when he went to Tucker Avenue to see Busta.

Shearer was not comfortable in the job. Seaga had resigned from his ministerial duties saying he was going to write three books.

Instead he went and found allies in western Jamaica and when Shearer threw away the leadership he was left to contend with Wilton Hill and Lightbourne for the position. If he outfoxed anybody it was those two.


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In reply to Ewart

wow.. thank you..i learn something everyday. Amazing. the stuff they dont teach you in history class.

In reply to Ewart

Makes sense to me now. I read once about the night of a big national event --the Stadium being opened or something such-- when Blinds schemed to keep out Norman. He must have been the one in charge because he had arranged no seating for NWM and had his thugs block him from entering. Apparently, it was not until word got to Busta that the situation was resolved and some hasty arrangement made for the senior Manley.

--Æ.

In reply to JayMor

Yep - that is what happened - he was a vile cretin.

In reply to JayMor

Correct!


Seaga's words were, "What is that man doing there?"

And as the security people wondered what next to do, Busta came to the rescue.


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In reply to Ewart and Chrissy

Thanks for the confirmation. I cannot tell you why even at 18-y.o. I had a distaste for him but I did*... My first job after h.s. was at the Institute of Ja, the second assignment of which was to microfilm J'can publications (Ewart, that included Public Opinion, LOL)... Blinds was Min. of Culture or something such; he visited one day and started discussing me with the ones in charge, talking about sending me to the V.I. to train for something or other. Silly me at that age, I got scared-- didn't want him having any kind of possible hook in me, so I immediately looked for another job and left before anything could materialise.

*[My parents were PNP in a JLP constituency (Arnold 'Dutty Shirt' Jackson) so maybe they hated him too, I can't recall. I think I had a better feeling toward Busta, but for sure I was for "The man with the plan".]

--Æ.

In reply to JayMor

Arnold "Dutty Shut" Jackson was a great MP. I heard him one night as we covered Parliament introduce a word that, with the exception of one of us, nobody knew. And what is more he it correctly.

The meaning of the word is "light and slightly contemptuous mockery or banter."

And the word is Persiflage.



Have you ever heard it?

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In reply to JayMor

I was of similar political cloth as parents were Big time members of PNP...But we all loved Busta..
Cannot forget how he greeted us when he passed through on a car tour of Western St.mary..'Elllo baws and garls'
LOL

In reply to Ewart
FGirst I am hearing that word. Dutty Shirt was clean on the language

In reply to Ewart

No, sah! In looking it up just now I found one of its synonyms --raillery-- another new one for me.

I met and briefly dated one of Jackson's grand daughters during my Florida days. By then he had passed on.

--Æ.

In reply to hubert






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In reply to hubert

The chief was as trip!   By the time I got to Town, though, he was ill/retired and Shearer was PM. Never even so much as saw him.

--Æ.