Under assault, Gleaner stood firm on integrity, says Issa
Published:Monday | May 18, 2020 | 12:27 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Veteran hotelier John Issa has described the late decades-long friend Oliver Clarke as a fierce, “pro-truth” advocate whose leadership of The Gleaner Company in the 1970s saved Jamaica’s democracy.
“He was a highly principled, ethical businessman who tried his best to influence public policy in the right direction. As a chairman, he was very proper and careful and thorough,” Issa told The Gleaner from Nassau, Bahamas, where he operates a Breezes resort, on Sunday afternoon.
Clarke, former chairman of The Gleaner Company, died at his home on Saturday night. He had been ailing from cancer.
His death has been described as the loss of another voice for integrity.
“But Jamaica will carry on,” Issa declared with conviction, acknowledging Joseph M. Matalon as a fitting successor to Clarke as chairman of the RJRGLEANER Communications Group.
With admiration and respect evidenced in his voice, Issa pointed out that fairness was the hallmark of Clarke, who navigated The Gleaner through the turbulent times in the 1970s when the press came under intense pressure from the Michael Manley administration when the country was in the throes of an experiment with democratic socialism.
This fairness, he said, was evident during that era when The Gleaner backed private enterprise and an open economy in the face of Manley’s apparent dalliance with communist ideology. Clarke allowed the newspaper’s battery of columnists, including a founding member of the then ruling party, to make submissions without interference.
“In other words, The Gleaner told both sides of the story. It never cut off a source of opinion or news even while it was contrary to Gleaner policy,” Issa said.
SAFEGUARDING PRESS FREEDOM
A former deputy chairman of The Gleaner Company, Issa believes that it was the newspaper’s resistance to Manley’s political ideology that safeguarded freedom of the press in the ’70s. Issa argued that the media house has been the backbone of Jamaica’s open philosophy.
“It hasn’t been able to accomplish over the decades what needs to be accomplished, but it has tried its best and continues to,” he said.
The two men met in 1975 when Clarke was appointed general manager at The Gleaner and served together on the company’s board until Issa’s retirement.
Lauding Clarke, he said the former Gleaner chairman took command during a time when Jamaican businesses faced significant economic hardships. Still in his mid-30s then, he said Clarke became the driving force behind a convertible bond issue, which gave the company financial strength to survive.
“When the entire board of The Gleaner came under attack from the State, he stood his ground, allowing its editorial team to continue seeking the truth and report it without fear or favour.”
Having gone through tumultuous times together, Issa reminisced on a period of state of emergency when The Gleaner was under assault and the board was called to a meeting and accused of being agents of the CIA.
“ The Gleaner is pro-truth and pro-integrity. Those were Oliver’s principles ... . He was very careful about declaration of interests,” said Issa.