Howard McGowan Recalls Time Spent at The Gleaner in 'An Odyssey in Reggae And Journalism'

For many years, The Gleaner Company was the place to go if Jamaicans wanted to pursue a career in journalism. That is where Howard McGowan went in 1974, and stayed for 23 years.

oward McGowan and Ruth Taylor, CEO of Bambu Sparks publishers of his book, “An Odyssey In Reggae And Journalism”The former entertainment editor at that newspaper recalls his time there in An Odyssey in Reggae And Journalism, his book which was released in February by Jamaican publishers, Bambu Sparks.

McGowan reflects on banging out stories in a newsroom piloted by stalwarts of Caribbean journalism --- Calvin Bowen, Barbara Gloudon, Ken Allen and J C Proute (of Barbados) as well as cartoonist Urban Leandro, all of whom helped develop his craft.

"Calvin Bowen was a reservoir of knowledge and a student of Shakespeare, which I found fascinating. Barbara Gloudon taught me the difference between sub-editing and reporting.

Urban Leandro for his wit and humour, which undoubtedly had a bearing on me," he told Caribbean Today. "Unlike my peers, I gravitated to the older brigade and soaked up the knowledge which was on offer."

Born in Kingston, McGowan remembers an early fascination with words, but it was architecture that he received formal training in at Delahanty Institute in New York.

Although earning a diploma in that field, he sought a career in journalism when he returned to Jamaica during the early 1970s. For much of that decade, The Gleaner, a conservative broadsheet, had strong competition from the Daily News, a tabloid sympathetic to the socialist government of prime minister Michael Manley.

An Odyssey in Reggae And Journalism also looks at McGowan's involvement as a judge in the Tastee Talent Contest throughout its 24-year (1979-2013) run. That talent show helped expose numerous artists who went on to bigger things, such as Nadine Sutherland, Yellowman, Beenie Man and Mr. Vegas.

Social media has transformed the way journalism is practiced today, with bloggers and vloggers competing with traditional writers. Retired from professional journalism, Howard McGowan, has no doubt he made a mark on his field.

"In the '70s, the door was forced open by me, paving the way for fulsome coverage in the '80s to late '90s. Now there are a plethora of writers, but hardly the in-your-face style I had, pulling no punches while going in-depth with breaking stories," he said.