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Members and Past Presidents Gather for Launch of PAJ’s 75th Anniversary
Tags: PAJ 75, Press Association of Jamaica
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
PRESS ASSOCIATION CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO IMMEDIATELY RESUME POST-CABINET PRESS BRIEFINGS
Tags: Jamaica, Post Cabinet Press Briefing, Press Association of Jamaica, press freedom
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.
PAJ Mourns Janice Budd
Tags: Janice Budd, journalism
“Journalist and communications professional Janice Budd was one of the hardest-working and most talented people in the business. Her death is a significant loss to the profession, as well as a deeply personal loss to the many people whose lives she touched,” says President of the Press Association of Jamaica Dionne Jackson Miller.
This following Budd’s death Tuesday, after an illness of several months.
“Janice was a joy to work with. She was multi-talented, and moved seamlessly between radio, TV and print, a testament to her core skills of news reporting and writing. She was an exceptionally talented writer, an excellent editor and excelled at almost every task in the newsroom, from radio or TV presenting, to hard news reporting and feature and documentary writing,” added Jackson Miller, who worked with Budd in the RJR Newsroom. Read more
APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN FOR PAJ EDUCATION GRANTS
The Press Association of Jamaica is partnering with Digicel for the provision of Education Grants to assist communications students at the island’s universities.
Digicel will be financing four Education Grants in all, valued at fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) each, for final year college students. One grant each will be awarded to a student at the University of Technology, Northern Caribbean University, and the Kingston and Montego Bay campuses of the University of the West Indies. Read more
PAJ URGES PRIME MINISTER HOLNESS TO HOLD PRESS BRIEFINGS IN NEW YEAR
Tags: andrew holness, media access, Press Association of Jamaica, press freedom
December 19, 2016: The Press Association of Jamaica has written to Prime Minister Andrew Holness noting his failure to hold press briefings since assuming office, and urging him to do so in the New Year for benefit of the public.
The PAJ stressed that it was very concerned about media access to Ministers of Government, and particularly to Mr. Holness as Prime Minister.
PAJ President Dionne Jackson Miller acknowledged in her letter to the Prime Minister that he had given several interviews to local media houses since assuming office, including one to her, and the RJR Communications Group for which she works.
However, the PAJ President noted that although these interviews are important, they are necessarily selective and exclude many reporters and media houses, and therefore do not provide the kind of broad-based access to media which press conferences do.
The PAJ noted that Mr. Holness, since assuming office in March, had yet to hold a comprehensive press briefing in the capacity of Prime Minister, which all media representatives could attend and ask him a range of questions, for the benefit of the public.
The PAJ urged Mr. Holness to remedy this deficiency as early as possible in the New Year, and to make these briefings a regular staple on his schedule.
The PAJ’s letter has been acknowledged by the Office of the Prime Minister, with a commitment to respond to the concerns expressed at the earliest possible time.
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