TEN years after it first rolled of the press, The Jamaica Observer has succeeded in adding balance to the nation’s journalistic scene, say two veteran media watchers.

Not only that, the paper has proved its mettle by lasting as long as it has, says Cliff Hughes on his television discussion show Impact.

“It has the distinction of being the largest surviving challenger to the Old Lady of North Street,” Hughes said at Friday morning’s recording of Impact, scheduled to be aired this afternoon at 4:30 on CVM-TV.

The discussion is one of a raft of activities scheduled to take place this year as the newspaper celebrates its 10th birthday.

Brian Meeks, from the University of the West Indies’ Department of Government, and Claude Robinson, a veteran journalist and media researcher, were panel members along with the Observer’s editor-in-chief, Paget deFreitas.

Meeks and Robinson agreed that The Observer had raised the level of public discourse under deFreitas’ leadership.

“On balance, it’s good that The Observer is here,” said Meeks, explaining that the newspaper “filled a necessary space” for other opinions.

“It’s very important that the country has many voices in the electronic media and so on,” said Robinson.

Robinson praised the paper for not merely reflecting events but helping put them into “context”.

DeFreitas attributed this strength to hands-on editing, and said it reflected his view that the paper should do more than “echo” newsworthy events.

The Observer is owned by Jamaican businessman Gordon “Butch” Stewart, chairman of the Sandals chain of all-inclusive resorts and majority shareholder in Air Jamaica. The Trinidad Express newspaper has a 10 per cent share in the Observer.

DeFreitas said Stewart followed a “hands-off” policy in relation to the editorial content of the newspaper and always “allowed us space” to make editorial decisions.

Regarding the paper’s popular cartoonist, Clovis Brown, deFreitas described him as “a genius”.

“We argue sometimes. We disagree with his position sometimes,” he added.

Asked about the toughest decision he’d made at The Observer, deFreitas said it was when a diplomat’s son was sentenced to prison, and a “family friend” asked him not to publish the photo.

“We decided to publish the photograph,” said deFreitas, explaining “we had asked what would be the case if it had been somebody else” going to prison who didn’t have friends at the paper.

Asked if the paper has been making money, deFreitas said “it comes and goes”.

His comments reflected the economic realities of a paper competing for limited advertising dollars in a tough market. Even so, deFreitas said, The Observer is putting out the best editorial product possible under those circumstances.