Basil Jarrett | The Gleaner-Observer alliance: a bold but necessary move

There are any number of classic Jamaican sayings that would be apropos to describe the recent announcement that daily newsprint rivals, The Jamaica Gleaner and The Jamaica Observer have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore cooperation on printing and distribution.

“Two heads are better than one,” “one hand cyaa clap” or my personal favourite, “when trouble ketch you, pickney shut fit you” would all be correct in describing the move, which, in all honesty, was a long time coming. Let’s first address the conspiracy kings in the room. This development isn’t a merger, a buyout, or some Trojan horse plot to corner the market and silence dissenting voices. Quite the opposite actually. What we’re witnessing is a pragmatic, forward-thinking move by two fiercely independent media houses, choosing to collaborate on the mechanics of newspaper production and delivery, in order to survive.

INNOVATE OR PERISH

In short, the headlines and the bylines will still be written from two distinct editorial perspectives, but the printing presses and delivery trucks? That’s where the collaboration begins and ends. It’s a brilliant move that, on one hand, could very well be the final nail in the coffin of this oh-so important media format, but on the other, may very well be the move that saves the entire print news industry in the Caribbean.

Let’s face it: the newspaper business isn’t what it used to be. Once the beating heart of public discourse and the cornerstone of our democracy, the printed newspaper has become the underdog in a world overrun by TikTok, memes, WhatsApp forwards, and AI-generated outrage. In the last decade alone, traditional print has been squeezed, starved, and shoved into a corner by social media algorithms, shrinking ad revenues, and the short attention spans of a generation raised on swipes and scrolls.

TEAMWORK STILL MAKES THE DREAM WORK

So, when two long-standing rivals set aside their competitive instincts and say, “Let’s find a way to survive this together,” it’s not just commendable, it’s courageous.

And necessary. Because while the digital world may be convenient, the printed newspaper still holds a unique power. It forces us to slow down. To focus. To digest, not just skim. You can’t clickbait a broadsheet. You can’t doomscroll a Sunday paper. And, in a world where truth is increasingly buried beneath a landslide of misinformation, memes, and hair transplant ads, there’s something profoundly reassuring about ink on paper.

But survival requires adaptation and adjustment. This joint venture is therefore a simple matter of logistics and economies of scale. It’s about shaving costs, streamlining operations, and future-proofing two beloved institutions, so they can continue doing what they’ve done for decades: speak truth to power, inform the citizenry, and record the first draft of our nation’s history.

A FRACTURED CARIBBEAN MEDIA LANDSCAPE

The move comes at an interesting time when the Caribbean media landscape is visibly fracturing. Just weeks ago, SportsMax, once the region’s premier sports broadcaster, announced it would be winding down operations after 23 years. LOOP News, one of the region’s pioneering and most popular online outlets, has all but exited the journalism space. All across the Caribbean, we are seeing the slow bleed of newsroom closures, layoffs, and digital pivots that often feel more like digital disappearances.

We here in Jamaica are not immune. Reporters are underpaid, newsrooms are understaffed, and public trust is low. In such a fragile ecosystem, media houses must therefore find ways to remain viable, without compromising editorial independence or journalistic integrity. That’s exactly what The Gleaner and The Jamaica Observer are attempting here: a careful calibration between commercial realities and constitutional responsibility. And, anyone who cares about the future of journalism, free speech and a free press in this country should be rooting for them.

TOO LITTLE TOO LATE?

Gen Z and other critics might be scoffing right now that this is just delaying the inevitable. But, if buying time means preserving the journalistic institutions that underpin our democracy, especially in the crazy world of alternate facts in which we now live, then it’s time well bought. Innovation doesn’t always look like a flashy app or a billionaire-funded news start-up. Sometimes it looks like two newspapers agreeing to share a truck.

We should also acknowledge the immense symbolism of this move. These are not small-time players. The Gleaner, established in 1834, is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the Western Hemisphere. The Jamaica Observer, born in 1993, has carved out its own formidable legacy. This is like former prime ministers Michael Manley and Edward Seaga co-authoring a budget, Kartel and Mavado agreeing to co-headline a concert, or Elephant Man and Connie Francis re-mixing one of her 1960s hits. Ok, maybe we scrap that last one.

The move sends a message. Not just to advertisers and stakeholders, but to the wider public: The print medium is still very much alive and we’re not going down without a fight.

If this partnership succeeds, and I hope and believe that it can, it could become a model for similar collaborations across the region. Perhaps shared investigative units between islands. Maybe a regional newswire with local bureaus. Or even coordinated fact-checking alliances to combat misinformation across CARICOM.

But none of that will happen unless we support the institutions we still have. Buy the papers. Both of them. Read. Subscribe. Engage. Support real journalism instead of conspiracy-laden chain messages from your uncle’s “news group”. The free press is not some abstract principle. It’s a living, breathing organism, and, if we don’t feed it, it dies as the first casualty of a fragile democracy.

In the end, this Gleaner–Observer agreement is more than just an operational pivot. It’s a quiet but necessary evolution. A last-ditch effort to keep the presses running, the headlines printing, and the public informed.

Let’s not let it go to waste.

Major Basil Jarrett is the director of communications at the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency and a crisis communications consultant. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Threads @IamBasilJarrett and linkedin.com/in/basiljarrett. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com