Zinc fence, graffiti at book launch

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

The dancehall writing - Gaza, Gully Gad, Big up Marley & Tosh, Bounty, Beenie, Buju - was on the zinc fence set up in the Grand Jamaica Suite, The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston, on Tuesday evening, and matters of media regulation on Education Minister Andrew Holness' mind.

He was guest speaker at the launch of Marcia Forbes' book, Music, Media and Adolescent Sexuality in Jamaica, host Dr Aggrey Irons speaking to the author's long-standing concern for children.

Irons went back to his time as a medical student, when Forbes was then a paediatric nurse, and said "she always cared for the lives of little children".

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Olivia 'Babsy' Grange spoke to caring, in the form of youth development, saying "In order to help youth develop and contribute to society we must understand them." In that context, Grange said Forbes' book was a timely contribution to scholarship, and especially understanding youth consumption habits and their effect.

Holness took on the three areas of focus in the book's title, shaping his address into an eventual commentary on media regulation.

The education minister said "the Fourth Estate (media) has now grown to become more important than the political estate", and further said, "music has become the easiest way of communicating information the fastest way of communicating an idea".

"When you combine music and media you have a powerful tool for either managing your society or destroying your society," Holness said.

Speaking to the Digital Generation's eight distinguishing values (among them individual freedom, integrity, collaboration, speed, innovation and entertainment) he noted, "Many of their norms run counter to what we hold as important, to what we hold as value systems in the society, and might sometimes run counter to legislation."

Holness discussed the matter of condoms and schools, as well as the debate that raged around Rampin' Shop, eventually asking, "Is the government going to be chastised by a media and entertainment fraternity for setting standards?" Those standards including moral and social issues.

"I think the media has to engage in standard setting for itself without waiting for government to regulate," Holness concluded.

Forbes concentrated on gratitude, saying "The book did not write itself; the book did not just happen." She thanked those who contributed, including Professor Barry Chevannes (who did the foreword) and the unknown reviewers who read the book at the stage when it was to have been published by the University Press. She also thanked Arawak Publishers for getting Music, Media and Adolescent Sexuality in Jamaica out before the end of the year.

And Forbes also said that another book, examining Jamaican youth's online activity, is in the making.