where shall we start?
Jamaica's first newspaper, the Weekly Jamaica Courant, was started by Robert Baldwin in May 1718, probably from his printery on Church Street in Kingston. 'Courant' was the contemporary word for a paper containing news. Baldwin may have been a member of a well-known family of printers in London. It is recorded that Mary Baldwin, possibly Robert's wife, took over management of the paper in 1722; it was quite usual in England for women to run printeries and newspapers. A Gleaner editorial in 1895 stated that the Courant was published in the 1730s by 'Atkins & Burns', but no information on these individuals has so far come to hand. The editorial has an interesting note on the way the paper was distributed at that time: it was 'circulated by means of four slaves who carried copies about to certain individuals who read the news aloud to an audience of neighbours'.
Jamaica's first newspaper, the Weekly Jamaica Courant, was started by Robert Baldwin in May 1718, probably from his printery on Church Street in Kingston. 'Courant' was the contemporary word for a paper containing news. Baldwin may have been a member of a well-known family of printers in London. It is recorded that Mary Baldwin, possibly Robert's wife, took over management of the paper in 1722; it was quite usual in England for women to run printeries and newspapers. A Gleaner editorial in 1895 stated that the Courant was published in the 1730s by 'Atkins & Burns', but no information on these individuals has so far come to hand. The editorial has an interesting note on the way the paper was distributed at that time: it was 'circulated by means of four slaves who carried copies about to certain individuals who read the news aloud to an audience of neighbours'.
So there have been 'journalists' in Jamaica since the early decades of the 18th century, but it is not easy to learn much about them as individuals until sometime in the 19th century. From then on, Jamaican journalists, whether born in the island, or coming from other places, have constituted a fascinating and significant group in the history of the island. Some of them I already know a good deal about, but I am still finding out more about them, and about the many others who pursued journalistic careers with Jamaica's many newspapers. During this period journalism was not a career open to women, so all those who appear on this site are men, but I hope to be able to say something finally of the determined early women journalists.
The history of Jamaican journalism thus stretches back to the 18th century, and the island has produced some very competent journalists since then. The names of some are fairly well-known, such as Robert Osborne and Edward Jordon of the Watchman and the Morning Journal, Sidney Lindo Levien, the County Union, and, later, H G Delisser, the Gleaner. Others are only shadowy figures, such as John Robinson of the Banner of the People or W B Hannan, of the Evening Express and the Christian Chronicle. The great editors, James Gall of the Newsletter, George Levy, the Colonial Standard, William Morrison and Robert Cunningham Guy, the Jamaica Post, tended to dominate the journalistic scene in the late 19th century, but others, especially Dr J Robert Love of the Jamaica Advocate, Charles L Campbell, the Budget and David Aurelius Corinaldi, the 19th Century, also made an important impact. A definitive history of Jamaican journalism still waits to be written, but something can be added here about a few lesser-known but significant pressmen.
interesting information on Robert Baldwin and early printing in Jamaica: