ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — South-central Jamaica freelancer Michael ‘Macky’ McLean has died.

McLean, 64, who had freelanced with at least six media entities, died at his home in Lacovia, St Elizabeth on Saturday after a prolonged illness.

Veteran and senior journalists have described McLean as an energetic newsman who also had a sharp eye for photographs.

A freelancer since the 1990s, he covered several newsbeats, including politics and sports and also worked with the St Elizabeth Parish Council now Municipal Corporation as a public relations officer.

Garfield Myers, senior journalist and former editor-at-large at the Jamaica Observer described McLean as an “energetic newsman”.

“He liked the hunt for news. He worked hard. He contributed stories while I was in charge of the south central bureau at the Observer. He was always at the municipality and a lot of his work was centred on local governance,” Myers said.

He recalled McLean’s photography skills and love for sports.

“He covered football and I think in the earlier days he used to be a referee as well, especially in the Santa Cruz area. He was also a good photographer. He had a sharp eye for photographs,” said Myers.

Rayon Dyer, a former freelancer, recounted his last interaction with McLean recently.

“He was somebody who was committed to his work. I remember when he used to go out to gather stories. I was very close to him, even a few weeks ago when he called me and I visited his home and I remember we were talking about when we were active in the field,” said Dyer.

“I remember him particularly from the days of The Gleaner company. He was a correspondent for The Gleaner and he covered parish council meetings and so on. McLean would be the first to get a couple stories out. He was dedicated to his work as a news correspondent,” added Dyer.

He described McLean as a passionate freelance journalist who went above and beyond in covering stories.

“He would always be willing to go even in far communities and districts to gather information for stories. Sometimes, as a rural correspondent, if you don’t go into the communities you don’t get news, because not all the time there is politics or other things to write about,” he said.

Clarence ‘Ben’ Brodie, a former president of the Press Association of Jamaica and current managing editor of the community newspaper The News, said McLean worked closely alongside him for about two decades.

“The section he used to write for is St Bess… I regard him as an outstanding freelance journalist based on the scope of his work and the understanding of the requirements of the profession. It is media workers like Macky who help to keep the nation informed and help to ensure that Jamaicans are better able to make decisions in their interest,” said Brodie.

“I encourage young people to look at Macky and to engage themselves and to think about journalism as a profession, if not full time then like Macky as part-time journalists,” he added.

Senior journalist Garfield Angus described McLean as a versatile newsman.

“He worked as a news correspondent with the Gleaner, the Jamaica Observer, Irie FM, and a few other media outlets. During this time, Macky not only demonstrated his skills to locate the news of the moment, but he also displayed great skills in news photography,” he said.

“We spent a lot of time in the field gathering news, and the period 2007 to 2011, which I regard as the very high point in my career as a journalist, while stationed in central Jamaica, under strong effective management and supportive colleagues, I came to respect the worth of McLean. He went into business, starting the newspaper, Wacky News, and for a brief period, he featured things and people on the south coast, until the downturn in the economy of central Jamaica dealt it a fatal blow,” added Angus.

— Kasey Williams