8 / 9
A
S THE Public must be well
aware, this newspaper and its-
sister publication The Star, have
been subjected to unrelenting attack and
criticism from both the Government
and the Press Association of Jamaica.
The accusations from both bodies bear a
remarkable similarity; charges of political
bias, irresponsibility, and (from the PAJ)
"unprofessionalism”.
These attacks reached a crescendo late
last year when Parliamentary Committees
hauled columnists of this paper and
its editor before them in an attempt to
obtain a disclosure of sources for certain
stories which dealt with crime and with
malpractice -in Savanna-la-Ma by Cuban
Doctors. It has not escaped public
attention that these attacks - and carefully
coordinated demonstrations- against
this section of the Press coincided with
embarrassing revelations made against
the Government. Nor can it have escaped
note that the principal "professional'
critics of this paper have tended in large
part, to be themselves either directly or
indirectly the lackeys of the Government
itself. Employees of API and JBC have
been in the forefront of the attack and
the demonstrations have been marked
by unprecedented personal abuse and
bitterness.
We bear these assaults proudly and
gladly. We have no apologies to make. This
newspaper remains the last element of the
press independent of Government control.
It regards its responsibility not towards
any sectoral interest but to the public as a
whole. We are confident that the public can
judge for themselves our conduct after all
presents itself daily in cold print for such
judgement. We believe that the firmest
guarantee of a free society is a free press.
One of the necessary functions of such a
press is to expose at whatever risk public
scandals or behaviour likely to impair
freedom. The Green Bay Affair is a case in
point. We now present a timetable of the
significant events which have led to the
present verdict by the Coroners Inquest,
we think a careful examination of the role
played by this newspaper (and by others)
will enable any reader to draw some firm
conclusions on the role and the necessity of
a free press - The Editor
The following is a Time Table of events
prepared by* David D'Costa.
TIME TABLE OF SIGNIFICANT
GREEN BAY EVENTS
THE “OPERATION” takes place at
Green Bay. The Army kills five ghetto
dwellers and claims to have discovered
11 men at target practice. It further claims
they killed the men near to noon after being
fired on but no guns are found on the scene.
The Police Information Office (misled
by the Army ) issues the Press the false
story on Green Bay. The Prime Minister
formallv announces the appointment of the
Honourable Dudley Thompson as the new
."Minister of National Security.
A TRUCE IS DECLARED between
warring factions in the Kingston Ghetto.
Central and Western factions vow not
to use guns on each other. The Gleaner
reveals that the Green Bay incident was
key to final decision by ghetto on truce A
ghetto youth is quoted on Green Bay that
was not tribal shooting.
“We youths killing off one another in the
ghetto but the politicians and them others
cool and it don’t make any sense. Is best
we unite.”
The same youth is asked whether the
ghetto will turn in its guns, “Yu mad!
We have we baby mother and children
to protect. When dem [Security Forces]
come what we must do. Al l I say is we
not turning we guns against one another
again.”
15 JAN:
" THE GLEANER'S Neville
Toyloy writes about the background to
the Ghetto Truce and reveals - for the first
time in print that the Green Bay operation
is now known by the ghetto to have been
a trap set by the Army and that the men
killed at Green Bay were lured to the firing
range with false offers of work and were
not armed .
24 JAN:
SECURITY MINISTER
Dudley Thompson states on Green Bay that
evidence is still being collected and that
he wishes to avoid "hasty and premature
statements.” He had earlier visited the
Green Bay site personally (on January 9th)
and inspected the scene of the action. He
promises the Public “ALL the facts” in due
course from the duly constituted authority.
3 FEB:
DUDLEY THOMPSON
welcomed by Senate as new Security
Minister. In a speech of reply he states
his approval of the recent ghetto truce
but states that,"mad dogs in the society
will be destroyed.” Senator Winston
Spaulding attempts to table a resolution
in the Senate which exposes all essential
aspects of the Green Bay operation and
makes grave accusations against the Army.
The resolution gives specific details of
the role of the Military Intelligence Unit
in the setting up the Green Bay death
trap and lists the serial numbers of the
sub-machine guns used at the Adventure
Inn Hotel on January 3rd to decoy the
ghetto youth to Green Bay; the resolution
is condemned by Dudley Thornpaon as
"politically irresponsible and mischievous”
and he particularly objects to Spaulding's
allegation that a gun has been "planted at
Green Bay.” The Attorney General Carl
Rattray condemns the resolution as "highly
emotiv e and highl y inflammatory”
and rejects Spaulding’s demand for a
Commission of Enquiry into Green Bay,
he states that the proper course is through
the Director of Public prosecutions and the
courts.
6 FEB:
COLUMNIST CARL STONE
comments in the Gleaner on Green Bay
, “Unless Ghetto communities wake up
to their normal responsibilities to aid the
war against crime there can be no peace
as operations such as took place at Green
Bay WILL HAVE TO BE PERFORMED
MORE FREQUENTLY (Emphasis added).
12 FEB:
THE SUNDAY GLEANER
publishes a front-page photograph of
the dead bodies at Green Bay taken by
a military officer on the operation, his
shadow appears in the photograph and
provides the first positive public proof that
the Official statement on the matter was a
lie; the killing could NOT have taken place
later than eight in the morning not near
noon as officially claimed.
13 FFB:
THE STAR BEGINS its
Expose of the Green Bay Operation. More
pictures are published on the operation
and the expose charges that the killings
took place at 5:30 A.M. on the 5th that
they were undertaken by a plan designed
by the Military Intelligence and executed
by a "Special Group” and that Red Cross
ambulances were used to lure the men
to their deaths at Green Bay. The Star
states that the Official Stories circulated
to date are untrue and warns that it will
publish further details until the" whole
truth is known.” The Jamaica Council of
Human Rights renews its demand that
the Government immediately inquire into
Green Bay.
15 FEB:
DUDLEY THOMPSON
reacts. He promises a Coroner's Inquest "at
earliest possible date" and Government’s
intention "to pursue all aspects of this
inquest without fear or favour.” He states
that "from the earliest date until yesterday
statements have been taken from witnesses
“by the police, the duly constituted
authority for this type of Operation "
But he excoriates what he calls "certain
sections of the media" (i.e. The Gleaner
and The Star) and condemns them for what
he insists are "highly inflammatory biased
and in many cases incorrect allegations.”
16 FEB:
THE STAR replies to the
Minister in a front page editorial, pointing
out that what he has promised (a Coroner's
Inquest) is only what is mandatory in cases.
It observes that the Minister accuses the
newspaper of inaccuracy but carefully
avoided pinpointing the alleged inaccuracy
or offering the public what (presumably)
are the 'true' facts about Green Bay now in
his possession. The STAR bluntly labels
the “Official account" of Green Bay a
pack of lies and repeats its contention that
the five men killed at Green Bay were (in
effect) murdered by the Army. It points out
that there has been no attempt to charge
the survivors of Green Bay under the
Gun Court Act. Why not? If the “Official
Story” were in fact correct the survivors
ought to have been arrested. The Editorial
ends with the words "WE CALL ON THE
GOVERNMENT TO SET UPA PUBLIC
ENQUIRYWHICH THE CONSCIENCE
OF THE NATION DEMANDS.
19 FEB:
SENATOR DUDLEY
THOMPSON addresses students at Mona
and suggests that the degree of crime today
in Jamaica is a hangover of the Imperialists
efforts to destabilize Jamaica. Once again
he lashes out at “certain elements” in the
Press who have done nearly as much as the
criminals in spreading alarm in the country.
20 FEB:
THE STAR publishes, the
second of its Exposes on Green Bay. It
points out that despite Government’s
efforts to describe the Green Bay operation
as joint it did NOT involve the Police. It
reveals that the Military are taking steps
to cover up the facts of Green Bay and
are threatening soldiers with the Defence
Act to prevent them from telling the truth
outside of Camp.
LATE FEB:
THE PNP ORGAN
"Public Opinion” publishes a front page
story (editorial comment) on Green Bay
asking whether “any angels had died in
the operation,”it implies that the dead men
were not angels and implicitly condones
the operation. John Maxwell (now Public
Opinion editor) uses a news commentary
on JBC television to reveal that a gun
has been found at Green Bay. This is the
first (semi-official) announcement of this
evidence. It later transpires that the gun
found, at the range was unfireable and in
the words of the Military’s own attorney an
“antique collectors item.”
2 MAR:
THE COMMUNIST Workers
Liberation League via their newspaper
Struggle, editorialize on the Green Bay
affair . They approve of it thoroughly and
they condemn the Gleaner for attacking
the security forces. At the same time they
publish an editorial cartoon depicting
the Editor and the Managing Director of
the Gleaner as Mad Dogs in the Media
slavering at the mouth and saying: “Now
we can have more Cuban Doctors and
Green Bay exposures. ha ha ho ho .”
6 MAR:
THE FIRST attempt to hold
the Coroners Inquest at Spanish Town is
postponed for a fortnight. The Army’s
attorney David Muirhead has withdrawn
from the case claiming that his life has
been threatened. The new Army attorney
Winston Frankson requests and is given
a two-week delay to be proper ly briefed.
Attorney Winston Spaulding (appearing for
the deceased and survivors of Green Bay)
expresses his sympathy over the threats
and declares that he too has received
similar threats. He will not however be
withdrawing from the case.
7 MAR:
SENATOR DUDLEY
THOMPSON holds a meeting at Camp
in which he addresses about thirty Unit
Commanders carefully selected. Unknown
to him his speech is taped by a member
GREEN BAY, THE
PRESS AND TRUTH