116 Country Report: Information Network (Final)

Newspaper

The Gleaner. The Gleaner because it is one of the largest newspapers in Jamaica as well as being very old, dating back to being founded in 1834. They are a daily newspaper, so keep up regularly with the news going on within the country. They also do not just focus on one area of the country and also have a lot of different topics reported on. So overall, it is easy to read, use and navigate.

It is accessed at https://jamaica-gleaner.com/ .

I chose this source because it looks like it is a very major newspaper in Jamaica. On top of that, it is current and up-to-date, which helps me see exactly what’s going on within Jamaica right now. In addition to that, they cover a wide variety of topics which will help me learn more about a broader range of what is happening in the country and what it’s like not just one topic. I also picked it because I can access archives as well, so I can see not only what is happening today but was has been major news in the past as well, which is an incredibly helpful tool.

Jamaica Observer.  When searching for sources, the Jamaica Observer also seemed to be a very prominent newspaper. They seem to have lots of different news but also seemed to have a different feel than The Gleaner. While they do have major news, it also seems they focus on world news, and even specifically Western news, such as issues in the United States, which I found very interesting.

It is accessed at https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/

I chose this newspaper because it just has a really different feel than The Gleaner. It seems more casual if that makes sense. It also seems to feature articles that seem like they may be more about social issues and the issues around that both in Jamaica and their opinions on countries outside of Jamaica. Because of the variety and the different feel from the other newspaper I chose, I am hoping it will provide me with some diverse perspectives from within Jamaica.

The Star. The Star is another major newspaper out of Kingston. It was founded in 1951. The Star is part of a larger company that owns lots of other large businesses in Jamaica. It has news on what is going on in Jamaica, sports, and entertainment news, and they are very well known for a section of The Star called Tell Me Pastor, where people can submit questions to Dr.Aaron Dumas, and he will respond to them.

It can be accessed at https://jamaica-star.com/

I choose this newspaper because of the differences it brings. While it covers typical news, it also has some things that are more unique and interactive about it, which I found interesting. To start, it has the very popular Tell Me Pastor section, which people get to/go to The Star for specifically. It also has more interactive features, such as discussion forums, chat rooms, and blogs. I really liked adding a newspaper that added these more unique elements to them for people to interact with.

The Western Mirror. This newspaper started being published in 1980. It mainly covers issues in Western Jamaica, primarily focusing on St. James, Westmoreland, Hanover, Trelawny, and St.Elizabeth. It features a variety of different issues and topics on its website. These include news, sports, tourism, business, entertainment, and editorial articles on their website.

It can be accessed at http://www.westernmirror.com/

I chose this newspaper because I wanted a newspaper represented that was not only based in Kingston. It is important for information in a country to come from all over, not just from one place. Since this is in a different area, I was interested in looking at news that may be more local and what issues are important in different areas of Jamaica. The Western Mirror felt like a great example of a newspaper doing so.

New Media

Global Voices. Global Voices is an independent website that features articles about many regions and countries. These are written by a team that doesn’t necessarily have to be from that country but also can give it a lot of variety. It is also an independent and free resource that wants to make getting information sustainable and try to be as transparent with information as it can to get as much information to people as possible. Generally, the website is divided up into regions of the world and also is accessible in many languages.

It can be accessed at https://globalvoices.org/?s=Jamaica&se=internal .

I choose this website because I really like the different kinds of issues it covers. It is not only dry news but important social justice issues as well as some cultural elements as well. It is easy to use, and while it is not an everyday newspaper post regular enough that I feel I can get some good information from it. It dives into topics some other sources do not, which I think will add good variety to my knowledge database about the country. Overall I selected Global Voices because of the breadth of topics related to Jamioca it covers both more formal ones as well as more casual news, and they are more critical than a traditional news source may be.

The Jamaican Blogs. This seems a bit more like a low tech sort of website but does include a wide variety of things on it. This blog/website is not only a blog. It has blog posts not only from official staff but only from guess who can write on it. It includes news both more traditional as well as sports news. It has a column named Dear Love Doctor. It has information on entertainment and real estate as well. It also includes more creative sections as well including short stories, poems, artwork, and proverbs also, all in one place.

It can be accessed at https://jablogz.com/

I choose this website because of how much variety it has and how unique it is. I have not seen many websites that have all these different features, including more creative work, all in one place. I also really liked how the blog section of this website had different authors and covered a variety of issues. Having different authors allows for  greater variety of perspectives from throughout the country. I also like how it covers so many topics, from real estate to more cultural and historical blog posts as well to represent more than just one topic all in one place.

Visit Jamaica. This website has a combination of features in addition to blog posts about events and guides on vacation in Jamaica. It covers a wide variety of frequently visited areas of Jamaica. It has a variety of features as well to find places to stay, deals and specials in Jamaica to take advantage of, and even a tool on how to plan your trip and a place to plan your trip in Jamaica. Besides social media, there is also a monthly newsletter in addition to the website.

It can be accessed at https://www.visitjamaica.com/blog/

I chose this source because I did think it was important to see what information is highlighted about Jamaica from a tourism point of view. Tourism is a major part of the Jamaican economy and often has a large influence on where in the country emphasis is put on and how the local economy is a well. It is important, in my opinion, to see how Jamaica is portrayed and where and what in the country is portrayed to tourists since it is such a popular tourism spot. I particularly liked how this blog had many features as well as liked how it highlighted multiple cities/areas in Jamaica so I can get a feel for more than just one tourist location through this blog and website as a whole.

Social Media 

Smile Jamaica. I chose to use Smile Jamaica on Twitter as a social media source. Smile Jamaica is Jamaica’s #1 Morning Show. This show Airs Monday to Friday at 6 am and Saturday and Sunday at 8 am. They seem to use Twitter very frequently as well making this a very up-to-date social media source. They also include other media embedded on their Twitter, such as videos, posters, and even tiktoks which help collect information all in one place.

It can be accessed at https://twitter.com/Smilejamtvj

I chose thing because it is a more casual feeling source for the everyday person. People love their morning shows, and morning shows often do portray major news, trends, and views of a country in addition to culture about what the everyday person may think or want. Because Smile Jamaica is the #1-morning show in Jamaica as well, I figured it would be a good representation of this category. Overall this source provides me with more information that is casual for the everyday person, which helps bring a different perspective than traditional news sources especially.

Meet The Mitchells. This is a youtube channel that follows a Jamaican family made up of a Mom and a Dad, as well as 3 sons and a Nanny. The dad Wayne Marshall is in international reggae and dancehall articles, and the mom Tamar “Tami” Chin, is a singer. In their videos, they share things all about their day-to-day life. They currently have 234 thousand subscribers and 545 videos on Youtube. In addition to that, they also have various social media accounts, a podcast, and a radio show they do.

It can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/@MeetTheMitchells/about

I chose this youtube channel because I was interested in the day-to-day experiences of a family in Jamaica. Family vloggers are very big right now in general so iw as curious about what it would be like to watch family vlogs from another country. This youtube channel is also run by 2 musicians, and I was curious to see if the culture behind the music is also embedded in everyday life or if it was more separate. Youtube is a major social media platform, so I wanted to make sure to include a source from it.

Bwoizy.Bwizy, whose real name is Aamir Cunningham, is a content creator. He is primarily known for his TikTok, based in Jamaica, and is known for his witty sense of humor, but he also has a large Instagram account as well. On Tiktok, he has 355.9 thousand followers and 12.8 million likes. On Instagram, he has 121 thousand followers as well. On TikTok, he also is known to do series, and on Instagram currently, music he has made is featured.

His TikTok can be accessed at https://www.tiktok.com/@bwoizy

His Instagram can be accessed at https://www.instagram.com/bwoizy/?hl=en

I chose Bwoizys accounts for a few reasons. One reason is because TikTok is a big platform for younger generations, so I wanted to include someone big on TikTok to get a feel for what is popular tiktoker wise in Jamaica. This can help give a better glimpse into the culture and what is considered entertainment on content for those younger generations. I also chose him because when I was looking him up, his accounts both for TikTok and Instagram were highlighted by some major newspapers, so he is getting recognized beyond just younger generations if newspapers were covering his accounts. I thought this was important as this goes to show what really extends and is popular on special media beyond just one platform.

Data Sources 

Jamaica Open Data Catalog.  This website is provided by the government. It is designed to provide timely access to important data from various different sources. It has an open data tool that allows sorting and searches. The information allows a variety of people especially aimed for governments, non-profits, and universities, to provide easy-to-access data to the public based on their goals on the website.

It can be accessed at https://data.gov.jm/ .

I chose this source because this data comes directly from the Jamaican government. I was just curious to see what kinds of information the government provides to the day-to-day person as well as what information they want to or even are okay with the public knowing. I also chose this data source because it is easy to explore by area within Jamaica, which means it provides information from around the country, which is incredibly important to get a holistic understanding. They also do provide data on a myriad of information topics from agriculture to infrastructure, so there is also lots of variety of data itself.

Knoema. It is a private business that collects data about a wide variety of countries. They are an Eldridge business and describe themselves as the premier data platform. They strove to provide data the business users to create better plans for outcomes given the world’s data they have collected on a variety of countries. For Jamaica specifically, they have collected data on the economy, demographics, energy, land use, transportation, agriculture, telecommunication, health, national defense, foreign trade, education, crime statistics, tourism, poverty, environment, food security, water, research, and development as well as general world rankings. All of these include many subcategories within them as well.

It can be accessed at https://knoema.com/atlas/Jamaica

I chose this source because, especially for the data sets, I wanted to include them from a variety of backgrounds. This source is from a private business in comparison to the first data source I found, which was directly from the Jamaican government. Private businesses may have different resources as well as motivations behind how they get data as well as what data is important to them to collect. This source also had a wide variety of categories they collected data in, which I very much liked. The world rankings also include more social issues as well as press freedom which is very much tied to the media freedoms we have looked at in this class which is another reason I found this source interesting.

Humdata. This is the Humanitarian Data Exchange. Sources for this data come from a variety of sources together, including the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the U.S. National Science Board, the UN Statistics Division, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, to name a few. This is made up of 85 data sets total, with 74 of those datasets being active and 11 of the data sets being achieved data sets. It covers a wide variety of topics, from things such as health indicators and climate change to  data on conflicts and gender differences, to name a few.

It can be accessed at https://data.humdata.org/group/jam

I chose this source because, as I said before, especially for the data sets, I wanted to take them from a variety of sources one was from the Jamaican government, one was from a private business and this one was from a collection of global mainly non-profit/international organizations. I really like adding an additional perspective because different types of sources for data may be looking for or measuring for different things, so finding this adds more variety to what is there. Once again, I also chose this source because I liked the wide variety of different topics the data covers, and I like how it not only had to do with within the country but also some topics covered things for Jamaica in relation to other countries, such as trade information.

TV/Radio 

Television Jamaica. Television Jamaica is one of Jamaica’s two major television stations, so it was important to include it. This station covers a variety of different shows, from news to sports to culture. They have clips online of different shows, so it gives a good overview of the typical media in Jamaica since it is one of two major networks.

It can be accessed at https://www.televisionjamaica.com/videos.

As I said before, I chose this source as it is one of the two major TV networks in Jamaica, it felt important to represent at least one of them for my initial network system. I really liked the fact that they have so many different kidneys of shows on the network because it can give me an overview of the average entertainment Jamaicans watch, which I think would provide me with a good understanding.

Entertainment Report. More specific than just a network, the show entertainment report, more commonly known as E.R., is an incredibly popular TV show in Jamaica that is on the network I previously highlighted being, Television Jamaica. It is a popular TV show in Jamaica that is a Friday Night staple for a lot of Jamaica. It is on Friday nights at 8:30. It centers on Jamaica’s dancehall culture and started in the 1990s. It also discusses other pop culture topics as well.

Some Clips can be accessed at https://www.televisionjamaica.com/er-videos

I wanted to pick a TV show that was popular to get a feel for what the average Jamaican may watch on TV. I wanted to pick something from the network that I found because it is a very large one in Jamaica. I figured picking a popular show on a large network would be representative as it could be of a typical show. I also like how this one focuses on pop culture as well to get more into what the culture of Jamaica is like as a whole.

Mello FM Radio. This is a radio station in Jamaica that covers western Jamaica. It is based out on Montego Bay and transmitted to western Jamaica in areas such as St. James, Trelawny, Hanover, Westmoreland, and parts of St. Ann and St. Elizabeth. They are working on improving their reach beyond western Jamaica to cover more of the country to become more popular. It mainly highlights contemporary and rhythm & blues music.

It can be accessed at https://mellofmjamaica.com/live-stream/

I wanted to include a source of a radio station that included music, so since this was one I could livestream, I chose this as one. I also liked how it actually did not cover the country but is working to do so, as I think it shows a couple of different thighs. One this could be about improving technologies or interconnectedness in Jamaica. Another is that it could show that the music this station plays is incredibly popular, and people all over Jamaica would enjoy it.

Additional Sources 

The Millennial Jamaican. It is a blog from just an everyday millennial in Jamaica. She reports on culture, lifestyle, and even news from a Jamaican perspective as well as news overall. It is not only a source to see what a everyday Jamaican life is like but also some news as well as global perspectives, which is a very interesting mix of things. It also includes the authors personal states and even book recommendations as well making it a versatile website.

It can be accessed here https://www.themillennialjamaican.com/ .

I chose this source because it is very different from the others. It is much more casual it is just an everyday person in Jamaica. This is a perspective I am very interested to explore through her blog as she is just an everyday person, not some big celebrity or some news anchor. I feel like it provides a more normal just, simple layer to my sources to explore about someone’s day-to-day life as well as the culture in Jamaica as a whole.

Music 99 FM Smooth Jamaican Radio. This is a radio station that is located in Kingston and has become one of Jamaica’s favorite radio stations. A wide variety of music is played, including Jazz, Mellow Reggae, Soft Rock, and more. They are known for their music playing format, which includes 13 songs per hour with 3 ad breaks an hour which is not very many. Something unique about it is that this radio station does many outreach programs to local communities. It also has some censored music choices so people of all ages would be able to listen.

It is mainly on classic radio, so while some places olay it online live streamed, it does not seem they do it themselves, so I was not really able to access it online.

I picked this because I wanted to include another radio station since people of older generations may be on the radio more. I wanted to make sure I was including sources that a wide variety of ages would interact with, so having another radio source was something I wanted to do. I also found it interesting it played music that was censored already as that tied into what, in a way, my final project was centered on, so I was very interested to learn that fact about it. Overall this covers a different group than some of my other sources do.

My Island Jamaica. This website was founded by Wellesley Gayle in 2007, who was born and raised and still lives in Jamaica. He created the website to share his native perspective and passion for all things Jamaica. The website does not look as technologically slick as other websites but includes information that expands all over various types of social media in addition to the website as well. It also includes ways to interact ways to plan a trip aspects about culture and things for local Jamaicans as well as good recipes to try to restaurants to go to.

It can be accessed here https://www.my-island-jamaica.com/

I chose this source because of the vast amount of uses and information it has. I also really liked how it was all coming from a native Jamaican perspective that seemed very authentic and genuine. The amount of information on this website and the times it came up when I was researching different sources really made me want to include it. It also has so many different uses, as I mentioned, both for other native Jaamaicns and for tourists looking for information for a visit. The only issue I had with it is it was a little strange to navigate and did not seem as technologically advanced as some other websites. But the information on it is so vast and in-depth it is worth diving into as a source.