Media Watch was surprised at the surprisingly small turnout of journalists and the meagre coverage given to the launch of Owen Baptiste’s ‘Seagulls Won’t Come Home’, a biography cum travelogue, at NALIS last week Wednesday.
Baptiste was at one time a household name in local media and a prolific writer who managed to combine a daily newspaper column with his job as editor-in-chief of the Express. He was also known for his page design skills, headline writing and his media entrepreneurial activity that spanned failed magazines and journals.
His contribution to TnT journalism is undeniable and any book capturing his period in the media must be required reading for journalists as well as media managers. It was surprising therefore that there was such a poor turnout of Baptiste’s former colleagues at the Express, where he spent much of his career or even from the Guardian, where he succeeded Jones P. Madeira as editor-in-chief.
In the audience for the launch of "The Seagulls Won't Come Down" (from left front row) author Owen Baptiste, his wife, Rhona, US Ambassador Beatrice Welters and another official to teh US Embassy
Always a prolific writer, Baptiste told the audience that he is already busy and is nearing completion of his next book, provocatively titled ‘The Concubine’. Given his tease, one can be sure it will make equally interesting reading. Hopefully it will attract greater attention from his former media colleagues.
Baptiste’s wife, Rhona, an avid blogger and author as well, already blogged on the poor media coverage of the event by both electronic and print media.
Hopefully this does not reflect on interest in the book. If only for its insider’s view of the development of the local and regional media (not to mention the juicy bacchanal between Baptiste and Gordon) it deserves to be read. The local perspective on China is illuminating.
And for those of us who have outgrown the printed page, it is also available for download at Amazon.com.
