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Members and Past Presidents Gather for Launch of PAJ’s 75th Anniversary
Dear Members:
Presidents’ Plaque
L-R Ben, Dionne, Byron, Jennifer, Jenni, Canute, Glen
On Saturday evening we held our Pinning Ceremony and Members’ Lyme. The evening
L-R Presidents Patrick, Canute, Jennifer, Ben, Dionne, Glen, Byron
was a great success! Thanks to those of you who came and I am sorry you could not all have been there.
We officially welcomed over 20 new members into the organisation, launched our 75thanniversary celebrations, and unveiled a part of the special exhibition on the history of the PAJ which the Gleaner is preparing for us as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations. As I said on Saturday, we have found that we have spent so much time telling other peoples’ stories, our own has not been recorded, and we need to rectify that.
Dionne pins Lloyd B. Smith
We were blessed to have had seven of our Past Presidents there, Past Presidents Ben Brodie, Byron Buckley, Jenni Campbell, Jennifer Grant (first female President of the PAJ) Canute James, Glen McFarlane, Patrick Harley, who were recognised, pinned, and all officially designated Life Members as agreed at our last AGM. We also unveiled a new Presidents’ Plaque as another part of our effort to record our history. (Patrick came a little late so was not pinned and so is not in one picture, and Jenni had to leave after and so is not in the other picture attached).
Part of PAJ’s exhibition on history of organisation
We were also pleased to have hosted Barbara Blake-Hannah, daughter of Evon Blake, one of the co-founders of the PAJ, and her son Makonnen, to share details of her father’s life.
We were especially happy to have welcomed several new members from NCU, and Lloyd B. Smith made the trip from Montego Bay to be with us! We also had several Caribbean journalists in attendance who had attended an investigative journalism workshop in Kingston last week.
Afterwards, we had time for food, fellowship and some shoulder flinging and genna bouncing lol.
Again, it was a wonderful evening. Thanks to everyone for the support and see you at our upcoming Sports Day (watch out for the date!)
Warm regards,
Dionne
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PAJ President Dionne Jackson Miller
May 10, 2018: The Press Association of Jamaica is calling for the government to resume, as a matter of urgency, the traditional post-Cabinet press briefings.
There have been no post-Cabinet briefings held since the start of the year. The last such briefing was held in November last year, and they were held very irregularly throughout 2017, the PAJ notes.
“The government seems to have effectively abandoned the post-Cabinet press briefings,” says PAJ President Dionne Jackson Miller,
“This is unacceptable. For years, the weekly meetings have been the forum in which reporters have been able to question Government Ministers on matters arising from the weekly Cabinet meetings, as well as other issues of national interest as they arise. They have been held regularly by previous administrations, both JLP and PNP, and we call on the Andrew Holness administration to continue this valuable democratic tradition,” she says.
The PAJ notes that it is not contending that the government has held no press briefings, as there have been several in the past few months, but usually relating to specific issues such as the imposition of a State of Public Emergency or the establishment of Zones of Special Operations. In addition, the PAJ says it acknowledges the quarterly press briefings which the Prime Minister has held.
The PAJ says it is referring specifically to the weekly press conferences which the media community regards as an important forum in which to question and engage the government on a variety of matters.
The PAJ notes that it has also received complaints about the ability of Ministers who have attended the briefings to actually answer questions from the press.
The Association points out that over the years, the Ministers presiding at these briefings have been able to handle wide-ranging questions from the media, on a variety of important subjects.
The Association therefore calls on the government to ensure not only that the weekly meetings resume, but that the Ministers presiding can actually answer questions asked by the press.
