Veteran Journalist to Be Honoured On Heroes Day

KINGSTON — The calm and easy going demeanor of veteran journalist, Balford George Henry, belies the sharp wit, keen sense of discernment, hard work and professional integrity that has been the hallmark of his more than four decades as a top print reporter.

The Consulting Editor at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) since 2009 is to be conferred with the Order of Distinction (Officer Class) for distinguished service to his profession, on National Heroes Day, October 17.

Mr. Henry, who says he “simply loves to write,” responded to the call to the fourth estate during the summer of 1971, while a sixth former at Wolmer’s Boys School in Kingston.

“At that time, the Gleaner advertised for trainee journalists. I was among scores of young people from across Jamaica, who sat the initiative tests, coincidently held at Wolmer’s Boys School Auditorium. Fortunately, I was among the handful of successful candidates,” he recalls.

At that time, the Gleaner was the only institutionalised daily newspaper in the country and in the absence of a school of journalism in Jamaica and indeed, the wider region, the North Street facility prided itself as the nursery and training ground for print reporters.

“I was exposed to the veterans of the craft, people like Ken Allen, Calvin Bowen, L.K. Southerland and Editor in Chief Theodore Sealy. Barbara Gloudon, in particular, discovered very early in my career that I enjoyed writing features and encouraged and nurtured my efforts,” says Henry.

He recalls that the training period was tough with the late Fitzroy Nation “being the only other member of my group to survive that ordeal”.

Mr. Henry further honed his skills as a Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) Fellow, London, 1977; earned a Journalism Diploma as a Thomson Foundation scholar in Cardiff, Wales, 1977; and was one of 12 journalists from around the world chosen by the World Press Institute (WPI) for a fellowship at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota in 1983.     

Early in his career, Mr. Henry reported on sittings of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), as well as major social and cultural activities and events.

Later, as a veteran labour relations reporter, he covered industrial relations issues, including major strikes and disputes during the volatile 1970s. “I valued the working relationship and experience gained from people like the late Terry Smith, who covered the labour beat for the Daily News,” he says.  

Mr. Henry also recalls his reportage of the issues relating to Jamaica’s first negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the General and Local Government elections held between 1976 and 1992.

Mr. Henry has served both national newspapers, the Gleaner and the Observer, as well as New York Daily News, WLIB Radio in New York as a correspondent. He was also Editor of Reggae Times in the 1990s and reporter for the Overseas Gleaner (North America Edition) in New York during the 90s.

The recipient of a number of professional awards, Mr. Henry has been the winner of Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) Honorary Award for a series on the social and economic problems facing Jamaican youths in Britain’s inner cities, based on his own experience while living in the country in 1977.

He has also won the PAJ Best Story award for his coverage of the funeral of the late reggae icon Bob Marley in 1981; as well as the PAJ’s first Cultural Story Award for the feature entitled: Fall of a Superstar’, on the rise and fall of Jamaican reggae singer, Junior Byles.

A member of the PAJ since 1972, Mr. Henry expresses the view that in advancing the training and development of Jamaican journalists, the PAJ needs to partner with the training institutions in order to ensure the proper transmission of skills, standards and ethics.

“There needs to be the engagement of veteran professionals to provide training and mentorship. I would suggest a one year internship at a media house prior to graduation,” he says.

Mr. Henry is married to Claudia Stockhausen-Henry, a secretary at the Gleaner Company since 1992.  He is the father of two sons and two daughters.

By Allan Brooks, JIS Senior Reporter