Can Sandrea Falconer cross it?

BY DESMOND ALLEN Executive Editor - Operations allend@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, February 05, 2012

IAN Boyne seemed genuinely chastened when a journalistic gaffe, inserted without bad intent, he said, by an editor into his weekly Gleaner column made him appear to take a side swipe at Sandrea Falconer, the new information minister, to suggest that she is "arrogant, abrasive, not likeable or credible".

"Anyone who knows Sandrea even remotely would think I have licked my head or am absolutely malicious, as she is the very opposite of that. All of us as journalists who knew Sandrea as a colleague know that she is amiable, gracious and courteous. I worked with her closely in the information ministry during the first Portia Simpson Miller Administration, and I can attest that Sandrea is one of the most non-partisan, self-critical and humble persons I know," the veteran journalist made haste to say. "The fact that Sandrea never even called me to protest shows the kind of person she is."

Falconer is only the second journalist, after Colin Campbell, to assume direction of the information portfolio, which has been growing in importance, even if sometimes controversial, as the occupant becomes the face of the Government.

The personalities filling that position since its creation by the 1989 Michael Manley administration — with Paul Robertson as minister — have, over the years, also included Maxine Henry-Wilson; Danny Buchanan; Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, Daryl Vaz and Arthur Williams Jr.

In Falconer and Campbell, the PNP appears to signal its belief that a journalistic background is a substantial advantage in developing and maintaining warm relations with the press, a key ingredient for success in the job.

Falconer, a second-term senator, has so far managed to keep on the good side of journalists and gained serious kudos when she stridently rose to their defence at the height of verbal attacks by the then ruling Jamaica Labour Party on the campaign trail.

She was able to empathise with the working journalists on the political beat, having spent many years herself in the trenches, beginning at the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC), now Television Jamaica (TVJ), where she climbed up from reporter to chief producer, news anchor and eventually head of the Television News Department.

During her stint at JBC-TVJ, she covered major local and international assignments, including the visits of several international leaders such as the Queen, former US President Bill Clinton, Cuban President Fidel Castro, and South African President Nelson Mandela, to name a few.

Falconer also worked as an independent consultant to the US network ABC News before she was recruited by the Gordon 'Butch' Stewart-led Air Jamaica as director of communications, with overall responsibility for Air Jamaica's global public relations. During her six years at Air Jamaica she led its communications campaigns including post-9/11, the opening of new routes and the handing back of the airline to the Government. She also developed the airline's crisis communications plan and was a member of the team that developed the airline's Emergency Response Plan.

While at Air Jamaica, she worked closely with the University of the West Indies, the Joint Board of Teacher Education, USAID and other corporate sponsors in the establishment of the Caribbean Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training, which provides innovative leadership in empowering, inspiring and equipping teachers in the first three grades of primary schools to improve mastery of the fundamentals of reading.

In 2007, she served as consultant/advisor to the Jamaica Information Service, assigned to the then minister of information.

Falconer is a graduate of Hampton High School for Girls in St Elizabeth and CARIMAC at the University of the West Indies.

She has also served on several boards, including the Institute of Sports (INSPORT), the St Elizabeth Homecoming Foundation and the Communications Advisory Board of the Air Transport Association based in Washington, DC. She is currently a director of the Portia Simpson Miller Foundation.

Falconer will be conscious that the contrition rate of information ministers is relatively high, compared with other portfolios. She has promised to be open with the media — a promise known to be easier said than done.

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Can Sandrea Falconer cross it?