JIS Hailed By Private Media

Media practitioners within the private sector have hailed the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) for the level of professionalism portrayed in providing world-class information to its target audience.

President of the Press Association of Jamaica and Managing Editor at the Gleaner Company Limited, Ms. Jenni Campbell,  described the JIS as a “very present help in times of trouble.”

“This is especially in terms of being able to cover some assignments, particularly the government (ones), that we just do not have the resources to cover,” Miss Campbell said.

She was speaking  at a luncheon hosted by the JIS for members of a delegation from Botswana, who are here to benchmark with the JIS. The luncheon was held at the Alhambra Inn, in Kingston, on  September 20.

Miss Campbell also noted that the Jamaica Information Service was staffed with quality journalists who are properly trained and are functioning as “journalists and not as propagandists or agents of the government.”

“(They) are journalists who go through the processes of verification in the same way we would in the newsroom. So, when we get a story from the JIS, we can almost run without starting from scratch or rewriting it,” the Managing Editor said.

For his part, Managing Director, RJR Group, Mr. Gary Allen, noted that while cable stations are not required to air government produced programmes, the RJR Group has taken the decision to broadcast these programmes on its cable station, due to the diverse content that the JIS programming provides.

“In terms of what we do on free to air and on our radio services, we also find that there is a good loyal following to the programming that is provided by the JIS and that speaks to the quality of the work that is done,” Mr. Allen said.

In the meantime, JIS Advisory Board Chairman, Miss Fae Ellington, said she is very pleased to hear her “colleagues speak about the professionalism that comes from the JIS.”

“It has been that way for many years. There are many persons who are now in mainstream media who started their careers, or at least have them fostered at the Jamaica Information Service,” Miss Ellington said.

The members of the Botswana delegation include: Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of State President, Botswana, Mogomotsi Kaboeamodimo; Director, Information Services Department, Russ Molosiwa; Managing Editor, Botswana Daily News, Charmaine Revaka; Chief Information Officer, Daphne Motsakae; and Manager, Radio, Keitirile Mathapi.

Others present at the luncheon were:  Chief Executive Officer of the JIS, Mrs. Donna-Marie Rowe; Chairman, Broadcasting Commission, Professor Hopeton Dunn and Human Resource Director at the JIS, Mrs. Bernita Locke.