Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
MANLEY
ON SEPTEMBER 24, 1979, Prime Minister Michael Manley led a march on the North Street office of the Gleaner Company, for what he said was the newspaper's misrepresentation of a speech he gave at the Non-Aligned Summit Conference in Havana, Cuba, a few days before.
The marchers included several Government ministers, including P.J. Patterson, Danny Williams and Anthony Spaulding, as well as Trevor Munroe, general secretary of the Workers Party of Jamaica.
Addressing a boisterous crowd, Manley said: "I have no speech to make. You have made the speech for me and you have made the speech for the progressive forces. Let them learn, freedom of the press, yes, but no more lies. But next time, next time."
The dramatic incident came after a series of scathing articles by Gleaner columnists against Manley's socialist policies. The Prime Minister, it seemed, had had enough.
Claude Robinson was then Manley's press secretary. He says he had no knowledge that a march on The Gleaner had been planned, but believes, as he did then, that it was ill-advised.
"The feeling among a lot of people at Jamaica House was 'oops', that's not a very good thing to do," Robinson told The Gleaner recently.
HIS MANDATE
The Gleaner march took place seven years after Michael Manley was elected Prime Minister. His mandate - to make sweeping social changes.
At the time of his ascension, there were four recognised outlets in mainstream media: the privately-owned Gleaner and Radio Jamaica; the state-owned Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) which operated a television and radio station and The Daily News, a tabloid that was primarily owned by persons close to the Government.
Manley himself had media experience. He had worked with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and was a regular contributor to the weekly Public Opinion, which had strong ties to the PNP.
Robinson, who had worked at the JBC and The Gleaner, became Manley's press secretary in 1973. He remembers the new PM as being extremely media-savvy.
"He was very concerned to develop and maintain good relations with the press because he understood the role of media and journalists," said Robinson. "He took his relations with the press seriously; he would never go into an interview without preparation."
Initially, Robinson says local media were receptive to the new Prime Minister, but after he declared democratic socialism as the direction his administration would take, in 1974, Robinson noticed a change.
CHANGE
"If I were to pick a single event that brought this change (in media attitude) it would have to be the formation of the National Youth Service (in 1975)," Robinson said. "That was extremely controversial because essentially what that was saying was that all graduates of high school should provide some community service in return for their education at public expense."
This triggered alarm signals among Jamaica's middle class who saw the NYS as a communist-type operation in which the state dictated the future of their children.
Gleaner columnists Morris Cargill, David DaCosta, John Hearne and Wilmot Perkins were among Manley's most vocal critics, describing his policies as misguided and reckless. When Hector Wynter, a member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Cabinet during the 1960s, became editor-in-chief in the mid-1970s, the attacks seemed to intensify.
In contrast, Robinson says The Daily News and the JBC were more sympathetic to the Government.
"They were more favourable, definitely, especially in the case of the JBC," said Robinson.
But Canute James, who became editor at The Daily News in 1975, differs.
"It (The Daily News) was described by one Government minister as being decidedly anti-administration. That minister said that raised many questions about continued Government support (for the paper)," James recalled in a recent interview with The Gleaner.
INFAMOUS
Manley's 'Gleaner speech' has become as infamous as his 'five flights to Miami' statement. Around the time of the march, key members of his administration had resigned and pressure by the Opposition JLP for him to call early general elections was mounting.
Robinson says Manley's relationship with mainstream media skidded after the march.
"It was a rocky road all the way right up to the 1980 election. It was never easy after that," said Robinson, who resigned as press secretary in late 1979.
After leaving the Office of the Prime Minister, Robinson returned to the JBC where he became director of news and current affairs. The station which had been described by the JLP as the Government's propaganda unit was a target for house-cleaning when that party came to power in late 1980.
The entire newsroom which included well-known names such as John Maxwell, Brian Meeks and Charles Hyatt were fired in early 1981. Robinson, now a research fellow at the University of the West Indies, was also fired during that time.
Tidbits
Hartley Neita and playwright Louis Marriott served briefly as Michael Manley's press secretary before Claude Robinson.
Manley's press secretary leading up to the 1980 General Election was current Information Minister Colin Campbell.
D.K. Duncan, a future columnist with The Gleaner, also marched on the newspaper in September 1979.
John Hearne, one of Manley's main critics, was once a staunch supporter of the PNP.
Morris Cargill left Jamaica for Florida during the 1970s, saying he feared the socialist direction of the Manley administration.
