About

Dwight Dunkley is a highly opinionated alien, a Jamaican living in New York. Freedom of the press is only reserved for those who own one, this is my press. Watch the freedom ensue!

I am writing this blog for a number of reasons. Firstly, for myself, as an act of discipline and focus undertaken regularly.  Secondly because I believe I have something unique and enlightening to contribute to the dialogue in being both critical as well as complimentary (and complementary) to some of the coverage emanating from Jamaica. As an avid media consumer let me say that I find the availability of news from Jamaica invaluable and a real boon to my quality of life. But it could be better, and to the extent there are defects I feel they are a factor in the under-development of Jamaica.

The Jamaican media product (as available on the internet) is distinct from the media product available in the United Kingdom and United States. Unfortunately despite the availability of tools and technologies to allow greater user feedback/participation, newspaper articles in Jamaica don’t generally permit comments. Rather they maintain strict editorial control via the use of Letters to the Editor (LTEs.)

Further there is an absence of multimedia elements in the way that the major dailies package their online products. This borders on being  an affront to their many avid consumers that live in other Caribbean countries, North America, and Europe. Where is the audio interview, the photo slideshow, and the video taped segment? I feel that the major dailies are missing out on multiple revenue centers available from providing more diverse media on their websites.

Finally, I find the over-reliance on blind items to be extremely annoying. A blind item is where the subject is not identified directly but rather  hinted at via innuendo and coyness. It’s one thing to rely on blind items in the Gleaner’s Tuesday/Thursday Talk gossip column, but it’s another when specific allegations are leveled at “a lawyer in a north coast parish” or “one well-known western businessman.” I appreciate that libel liability and repressive defamation laws play a crucial role in suppressing information; and that truth is not the absolute defense in Jamaica which it is in America. But if the British press, operating within the system on which our laws are based, can be so invaluable in identifying scandals and misconduct why can’t we?

I spent time thinking about whether this was really a contribution I wanted to make, and a project I wanted to maintain. Behold here I am. Or in our language, see mi yah.