Screenshot of Trinidadian journalist Jones P. Madeira taken from the YouTube video ‘The 1990 Coup – CCN TV6 Special Presentation.’
On January 10, Trinidad and Tobago lost a luminary in the field of journalism, Jones P. Madeira. The 80-year-old news veteran had been experiencing some health challenges and passed away at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, located along Trinidad’s east-west corridor.
Upon learning of his death, the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) paid him tribute as “a pioneering journalist who transformed Caribbean media,” calling his career “a masterclass in the power of journalism as the fourth estate and a vital pillar of democracy.” The post continued, “His death is a profound loss not only to his family but also to the profession he elevated and the region he served so passionately.”
Born in 1944 in the town of Arima in eastern Trinidad, Madeira had a bit of a nomadic childhood, moving “every six to eight months,” which perhaps ignited a genuine curiosity about people. Growing up, he would have met and interacted with an ethnically and culturally diverse range of individuals, which the MATT tribute said “gave him a nuanced understanding of the region’s social fabric, which would later inform his journalism.” He was also deeply influenced by the integrity and independent thinking of his mother, virtues that were also evident in his work.
A towering figure in the regional media landscape, Madeira’s career spanned decades of groundbreaking reporting. He began his career as an amateur broadcaster with the Voice of Rediffusion, a radio service. His first professional media position was in the early 1960s, when he was hired as a court reporter at the Trinidad Guardian. He was later assigned the Piarco International Airport beat, where he routinely interviewed regional leaders and global dignitaries. By the decade’s end, he was back working in electronic media, this time at Radio 610, part of the National Broadcasting Service. His diligence and commitment to excellence, coupled with his calm and authoritative demeanour, gave him an exceptional ability to make people feel informed, reassured, and connected to the world.
At the dawn of the 1970s, a fellowship at the BBC Caribbean Service in London provided him the training he needed to hone his craft. Working as a producer with the Overseas Regional Services of the BBC and broadcasting out of Bush House gave him a taste of journalism at an international level, broadened his horizons, and got him thinking about the role of the fourth estate in the Caribbean, which was still in the throes of the independence movement. Upon his return home, he re-joined Radio 610 as the senior producer of news and current affairs. There, leading a cadre of young broadcasters, he produced a range of news and current affairs programmes.
In 1976, he took up the position of adviser in media relations and public information at the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). He was also part of a UNESCO team charged with promoting the Caribbean integration movement, out of which emerged the further development of the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) and Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) – in everything from production to broadcast training, regional cooperation among news agencies increased.
By 1981, Madeira became the first full-time secretary-general of the CBU, where he did much to unite the region through media-based initiatives. The Caribbean’s attempt at federation may have failed, but innovative programmes like CaribVision [involving daily satellite exchanges among regional TV systems and live broadcasts of notable events] and CaribScope [a TV magazine programme] connected English-speaking regional audiences by covering news, culture and current affairs all across the archipelago. Of these initiatives, Madeira once noted, “We were building something bigger than nations — a shared Caribbean identity.” Madeira was inducted into the CBU Caribbean Media Hall of Fame in 2000.
He was head of news and current affairs of the state-owned Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT) when the July 1990 attempted coup took place. Insurrectionists stormed, among other places, the country’s parliament and TTT. Like many other employees who were on duty at the time, Madeira was held hostage. During the period of the insurrection, he, along with news anchor Dominic Kalipersad, would appear intermittently to keep citizens abreast of developments, surrounded by armed men. His measured tone, even under such pressure, exuded trustworthiness, giving viewers hope and confidence during a fearful and uncertain time.
In a statement on Madeira’s passing, the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) added that during the coup attempt, he also “mediated conversations between the insurgents and the security forces.” It also acknowledged Madeira’s role as a “mentor to an entire generation of Caribbean journalists.” ACM founder Wesley Gibbings, who worked with Madeira when he was at the Trinidad Guardian, simply said, “There is no history of regional media to be written without mention of his name.”
Madeira eventually left TTT to become the manager of News and Current Affairs and Caribbean Relations at the Trinidad Broadcasting Company. He would later be conscripted as editor-in-chief of the Trinidad Publishing Company Limited, which gave him his first professional stint in print journalism. Integrity always came first for Madeira, who resigned (along with much of his senior editorial team) during a confrontation with both the government and the newspaper’s publishers over freedom of the press. Their collective departure birthed The Independent, a short-lived alternative to the more established dailies that delivered balanced reporting, in-depth analysis and investigative journalism aimed at readers who valued thoughtful and objective news coverage.
After The Independent closed its doors, Madeira took a decade-long break from journalism, accepting a job as Information Adviser at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), after which he headed the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Health. He later became court protocol and information manager of the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago, finally returning to journalism in 2014 when he accepted the post of editor-in-chief at the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
The paper’s managing director, Grant Taylor, said Madeira’s death was a loss to the nation: “He was an incredibly strong and quiet man of tremendous integrity [and] was instrumental in reshaping the direction of the paper to where we are now.”
Madeira’s successor at Newsday, Judy Raymond, recalled that he “consistently demonstrated the patience, grace and wisdom born of his long and wide experience in the media. [W]e could always rely on him for considered advice, but he was always ready to listen and never assumed he knew best. Anyone in the newsroom could approach him for sympathetic counsel, whether professional or personal. He was the perfect old-fashioned gentleman, without the sexism that sometimes implies.”
Another of his colleagues, Andy Johnson, who called Madeira “a trailblazer,” told the Newsday, “He gave more than [a] fair share of good work [and] he took some hard lashes on the way, as anybody who’s trying to make a difference would do.” In 2018, Madeira received a national award, the Chaconia Medal (Gold), the nation’s second-highest honour, for his service in the field of journalism.
Renowned for his leadership, impactful storytelling, and unwavering dedication to the facts, Madeira leaves behind a legacy that has indelibly shaped the nation’s consciousness. Reflecting on his journey, Madeira once said, “I didn’t set out to be extraordinary. I just wanted to tell the truth and help people make sense of their world.”
He is survived by Melba, his wife of more than 50 years, and their three children.
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Publish date : 2025-01-12 15:00:00
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