An amusing footnote in one of Lent's many studies of Eastern Caribbean communication tells this tale:

"The largest page-one story in the May 11, 1971 issue of the "West Indian," for example, told about a Grenadian bank employee who had finished a London course of study. Three lines of 72-point type were required to headline that story."

When you run out of one size type, use another - even it is it bigger. When you print on an oversized newsprint sheet, use wide margins to border the text! Such were the adaptive measures editors needed to take.

The Torchlight, 1975-1979
[following the 1975 Newspaper (Amendment) Act and during the years of the Gairy Government]

The masthead on The Torchlight reads:

Knowledge Is Power

According to Alister Hughes who conducted an exclusive interview with D.M.B. Cromwell on 4 September 1975, Cromwell was the Managing Director of Messrs. Grenada Publishers Ltd. The newspaper generally published Wednesdays and Sundays.

Cromwell told Hughes the Company had "paid the $20,000 deposit prescribed by the Newspaper (Amendment) Act, and he expected that there would be an issue of the Torchlight next Sunday 7 [September 1975].

Mr. Cromwell added that his Company also established a Bond for $960 and paid a license fee of $500, both of which are requirements of the Newspaper (Amendment) Act 1975. Cromwell said:

This Act is a direct [unclear word] to the principle of the Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech. It has not been easy for a small Company such as ours to meet the heavy financial burden imposed by this Act. Nevertheless, we recognise a duty to the Community and I am pleased that our columns will be again open to Grenadians for expression of their opinions.

An interesting premonition was published by the "Torchlight" 10 March 1979, when Nick Joseph was the Assistant Editor. He authored an article concerning Winston Masanto, Commander of the Grenada Military Force. On Saturday, March 10, Masanto said, "Don't be surprised if one morning you get up and find that the boys have taken over." That they did on 13 March 1979.

In May 1979, the Managing Editor was Mr. D.M.B. Cromwell, with a Manager/Editor Albert Xavier and Circulation Manager, Simon Green. Cromwell, Xavier and Green were members of the United People's Party (UPP).

Having its difficulties with the Grenada Government of Gairy, the "Torchlight" protested the ban imposed of Government advertisements, information and access to public documents filed in the Registry of the Court.

The Spark, 1975
[following the 1975 Newspaper (Amendment) Act and during the years of the Gairy Government]

The The Spark, vol. 1 no. 1 and vol. 1 no. 2, was published in mid to late 1975 as an underground newspaper. The newspaper idea for "The Spark" originated with Maurice Bishop in 1970. One of its primary writers was Kamau McBarnette.

The publication's title is used within Leftist circles worldwide; for example, the Marxist Workers Party and a publication from South Africa. Spark's 1970s masthead, according to Dujmovic, was identical to that of the Soviets Iskra in 1900: “A Spark Shall Kindle a Flame.”

There are links of the Spark with the Organization for Research, Education and Liberation (OREL), a separate, secret political study group within NJM [formed in 1974], some say. Others say OREL had no direct organizational link to NJM. OREL is Russian for “eagle” and also a location name in the USSR, namely associated with the Battle at Orel of July, 1943. Articles in the Spark were often unsigned and NJM denied the issuance of the publication.

Volume 1, No. 2 issue, most likely published in March 1975, of the Spark states:

"The masses must be made to understand the treachery of
Gairy . . . They will therefore be prepared to accept and/or support what must logically follow, seeing the need for the violent overthrow of the rich ruling class."

The New Jewel
[following the 1975 Newspaper (Amendment) Act and during the years of the Gairy Government]

The People's Tribune
September 1978 - March 13, 1979
[following the 1975 Newspaper (Amendment) Act and during the years of the Gairy Government]

Soon after the defection of George Brizan from the New Jewel Movement, a severed relationship from active membership in the New Jewel Movement since July 1973, Brizan established "The People's Tribune." Referring to some members of the New Jewel Movement, Brizan wrote of them as 'the minority Communist element.' He wrote that the activities of these upstarts 'would destroy Jewel or bring it into disrepute if the more stable elements fail to assert themselves.'

The Grenada Newsletter
17 August 1973 - 13 March 1979
[following the 1975 Newspaper (Amendment) Act and during the years of the Gairy Government]

Appreciation and acknowledgement to John A. Lent's interviews with Grenadian editors and program directors found in "Third World Mass Media and Their Search for Modernity" and the Journalism Quarterly article "Mass Media in Grenada."