JONES P MADEIRA, 80, is dead.
The veteran journalist and former Newsday editor-in-chief died on January 10.
Newsday understands that Madeira was admitted to Mt Hope Hospital on January 6, suffering from complications from dementia and Parkinson’s Disease.
He had also been hospitalised last May after a fall caused bleeding in the brain.
Madeira leaves to mourn his wife Melba, children Lorilee, Melanie and Justin, and his grandchildren.
He had a distinguished media career in radio, television and newspaper in TT that took him on assignments across the Caribbean.
Madeira also worked as a communications officer at the Ministry of Health, PAHO and the Judiciary, where his position included protocol matters.
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He was awarded the Chaconia Medal (Gold) in 2018 and was inducted into the CBU Caribbean Media Hall of Fame in 2000.
Most unexpectedly and quite reluctantly, Madeira found himself playing a pivotal role in the events of the attempted coup of Friday, July 27, 1990, as TTT’s head of news.
Amid armed insurrectionists, as a hostage for six days Madeira became the voice of calm for the nation. Under the gun to announce Jamaat al Muslimeen head Yasin Abu Bakr as head of an interim government, Madeira had to consider the lives of himself and other staff members, project reassurance to the viewing population, and maintain his standards of journalistic integrity.
Madeira’s family, in a statement announcing his death, said his role as a facilitator of communication between the insurgents and the TT Defence Force “assisted in preventing a violent contest between the insurgents and the army” and instead resulted in Bakr’s eventual peaceful surrender to the army.
The release said he was awarded the Chaconia Gold Medal, the second highest national award “in recognition of his role in that life-saving episode.”
A 2020 Sunday Newsday story titled Jones P Madeira, reluctant hero of July 1990, cited two veteran journalists praising his role at TTT.
Dominic Kalipersad had said, “I have to thank Jones P for my life. He literally helped save the lives of all the hostages held at TTT during the attempt at a coup d’etat by the Jamaat al Muslimeen in July 1990.”
Neil Giuseppi said, “Jones was the undoubted hero of that hostage crisis. All the fellas who were hostages, to a man, said it was Jones’ management of the situation that possibly saved all their lives. They said he was the strength of the group, he gave them hope to carry on, not to give up, he was always there.”
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Madeira was born in Arima on June 9, 1944, attending Arima Boys School and Holy Cross College.
He started as an amateur broadcaster at the Voice of Rediffusion, of the Trinidad Broadcasting Company which also ran the Radio Trinidad, said a Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) account of his career. Later he worked as a reporter at the Trinidad Guardian.
Madeira entered broadcasting full-time as a news editor/reporter at state-run National Broadcasting Service (NBS). From there he received a fellowship and became a producer with the Overseas Regional Services of the BBC, broadcasting out of Bush House, London.
Madeira returned home and rejoined NBS 610 as senior producer, news and current affairs, leading a team of young broadcasters to introduce and produce a range of news and current affairs programmes.
In 1976, he became media/public information adviser at the Caricom Secretariat and part of a Unesco team promoting Caribbean integration. This latter included developing the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) and CBU, and promoting collaboration amongst electronic media houses in the Caribbean in programme production, engineering and broadcast training.
After five years, Madeira became the CBU’s first full-time secretary general, from 1981-1982.
He became TTT head of news, then manager of news at the Trinidad Broadcasting Company (publisher of the Guardian) and eventually editor-in-chief.
Amid a row with the Basdeo Panday government over press freedom, Madeira resigned, along with most of his editors, to launch the now-defunct newspaper The Independent.
After being information adviser at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) for ten years. Madeira became communications manager at the Ministry of Health. He then became protocol/information manager of the Judiciary.
In 2014, he became editor-in-chief of Newsday, and was later its editorial consultant.
Madeira’s family said he performed his duties with love, affection and devotion to them.
In turn, during the last decade of his life, as he began to feel the effects of his illnesses, they returned that care and devotion.
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Nothing less could be expected for a man whose daughter has described him as “a beautiful soul, a beautiful human being.” (With reporting by Gregory McBurnie)
