I write, therefore I am

Martin Henry, Gleaner Writer

Who was it again who said, "I think, therefore I am"?

For me, it is more like, "I write, therefore I am". And one of the frustrations of life is having to hustle a living otherwise.

The Press Association of Jamaica, in its wisdom, or lack thereof, has chosen me as the awardee this year for its Morris Cargill Award for opinion journalism. I wonder what Cargill would have thought of opinion writers who win an award named in his honour, particularly this year's awardee, and of the idea itself of an opinion-journalism award being named in his honour.

Actually, in my own case, the wondering is not without some answers. For reasons I will never know, Cargill devoted a number of his last columns to responding to stuff which I had written in mine which he either liked or didn't like. Morris was intense about his likes and dislikes. And he concluded in a reaction column, just before wandering off to an unknown destination at age 86 on April 8, 2000, that "Martin Henry thinks too damn much". I was never sure if this was pity or condemnation.

I have been at the business of writing an opinion column for 23 years, ever since that fateful day in 1987 when Editor Dudley Stokes broke convention and advertised for opinion writers off the street. He, himself, was an unconventional recruit from outside of journalism to head the Caribbean's oldest and most powerful newspaper. A recruitment which, like that of his street opinion writers, did not go down well with the journalism establishment jealous of its rights, status and privileges.

I deliberately slugged Morris Cargill into my very first column on November 3, 1987, for stature and sophistication. But then I quickly decided, having thought very carefully what I was going to be about, that I would not be writing like Morris Cargill in some important respects. The Martin Henry column was not going to rely on humour (of which I am perhaps thoroughly incapable, anyway) or on biting sarcasm (of which I am thoroughly capable) to score with readers.

Humour as stock in trade can trivialise serious discourse. I am a serious man - by nature and by intent. I want no one to read the Martin Henry column for a laugh. And unnecessarily stirring up antagonism is counterproductive to building bridges, seeking the "third way" and finding solutions.

Conscious of the popularity risks in a country where the purveyor of public opinion is venerated for "licking dem", I have chosen to write a calm, reflective column, grounded in my sense of philosophy and history, and guided by my religious principles, on broad issues, seeking solutions and not just attacking problems - and people. The work is grounded in scholarship without my copious reading from early childhood being in my readers' face.

Broad concerns

Today, in a broadening sphere of work across media, my preferred designation, if I have to be an 'analyst' at all, is 'public-affairs analyst', not 'political analyst'. The latter being altogether too narrow to contain my broad concerns about life in Jamaica and the world.

I have never felt that the opinion journalist needs to be a technical expert in anything at all. Indeed, pushing technical expertise tends to limit the life and usefulness of the column. I like to make (private) predictions of who isn't going to last. Cargill lasted close to forever and was read by everyone because he was a good generalist.

The opinion journalist should be a thoughtful, generally educated and exploring person willing to find out and to assess and to state an informed opinion to which others can respond, enriching public discourse in civilised fashion. The opinion journalist should possess the same sort of characteristics expected of the ideal citizen in a democracy - one capable of parti-cipating intelligently in the affairs of the polity. The main difference is that the opinion journalist has the extraordinary privilege of structured access to media space and, with access, enormous responsibility to use it fairly and well.

I have striven for fairness and balance. The column has been more commended for its fairness and balance and thoughtful reflection than it has been criticised for being 'soft'. And I have sought to steer away from hurting people and their interests for a blast or to advance my own standing. The truth, as I perceive it to be, must be spoken boldly, but this does not necessitate frontal assaults upon people. Among my biggest regrets are the few times I have slipped up and attacked people as an end in itself. In nearly two and a half decades, I have made oh so many other bloopers. Firing off a weekly column, often in the dead of night after a long day of real work, against hard deadlines, and with no time for it to cool, can produce some shocking slip-ups. As can relying on data and data sources which turn out to be unreliable.

Writing energises me. It doesn't matter how tired I am or how late it is, once the piece starts to flow, I am on top of the world. Not dull duty, but the acute pleasure of stretching oneself on a deeply satisfying, although demanding, task over which one has some mastery.

So how do I do it week after week, after week? I constantly ruminate on themes and topics. I file potentially useful material. I list topics. I read extensively, now more and more on the Internet. I seldom write a writing plan, unless the matter is knotty or new. But I craft openers in my head and, once I write down a good opener, the flow comes and I am joyfully on my way.

Reflecting my eclectic interests and my view of the column as exercising the role of the citizen as political participant, in the broadest sense, via the media, I have written on 'everything' - science and technology (the area of my initial university training), education (which has consumed most of my professional life), environment, religion, international affairs, culture, history, business and development. But 'political economy' has absorbed most of my time. Political economy, that complex and dynamic intersection and interplay of political and economic and social life in society in the matrix of culture and history, is a far-richer idea than mere politics or economics.

News and commentary

Government, as general manager of political economy, plays a super-dominant role in modern society and gets most media space in both news and commentary. This cannot be avoided, but we media practitioners must, with greater deliberateness, give more space to other important things in society besides the actions or inactions of government. I have tried.

Liberty, as a grand goal and purpose of Western political economy, has been a constant subliminal theme in the column. And I have focused heavily, more so in recent times, on issues of governance, from Constitution to crime and violence, from Budget to public service.

Over the years, I have had diverse and interesting feedback, most of it positive and encouraging. But there have been some sharp critics and some cranks with their own axes to grind, and those who want to recruit me and the column to their pet projects. I have written back, at least to acknowledge, to virtually everyone who has taken the trouble to write to me directly. In the pre-Internet age, letters ranged from a retired lady in the hills of northern Clarendon who wrote regularly, to Michael Manley who wrote to warmly commend a piece on things right about Jamaica, to Rex Nettleford who effusively defended himself against criticisms I had made of his views on something. One recent emailer wrote to advise me that he was signing me off because I was soft on the present government. But a few years ago an 'analyst' of columnists listed me among the pro-People's National Party and, at that time, pro-government columnists!

I am so pleased with the balance. I have no role to beat down government - or to big up government, for that matter - as a matter of course. As a responsible citizen, I hope to help improve governance, while doing the necessary constructive criticism of government.

Actually, I was writing long before the column. Hector Wynter carried some of my stuff in The Gleaner as letters to the editor or full articles, including a couple of public-affairs splashes on a Sunday, but he also returned just about as many with polite rejection notes. I wrote for the school magazine in high school. My headmaster registered me, behind my back, for GCE O'Level English and history in fourth form and I rewarded him with a distinction grade in English and a credit pass in history, two of my school passions.

Outside of writing advertising copy, news releases in corporate communication and news reports as media staff, writers in Jamaica are bound to starve. A book which is not a set school text which sells 3,000 copies is a Jamaican best-seller. And most of the handful of publishers here want sponsorship up front. So the column continues to be the closest I have come to realising my dream of being a real writer. I have expected no recognition beyond my readers telling me what they think.

I am genuinely surprised at the award since the column, as I have said, does not fit the winning profile of being 'hard hitting'. I thank the nominator and the PAJ for the vote of confidence that I have had something useful to say, and sufficiently worth reading, to be noted by the Morris Cargill Award for opinion journalism.

Martin Henry is a communications consultant. Feedback may be sent to medhen@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com