TEN years
ago today we published this stand-out – can’t bring myself to say iconic –
front page of the Daily Express in Trinidad & Tobago.
Notwithstanding
the awfulness of the subject matter, the page was a triumph for inspiration, creativity
and some downright dogged hard work – rather like everyday journalism.
The page might
look very straightforward but star designer Barry Mohammed worked his magic
with the deftest of drop shadows and the perfect marriage of typography for the
stark figure and word.
Each murder is written up with name, age, place and what happened. Enterprising, yet
painstaking work from crime reporter Denyse Renne who catalogued all these
individual tragedies.
Like much of
the innovative work we did at the Express – then the biggest daily newspaper in the
Caribbean – reactions were mixed. Some readers thought it was a dramatic and
poignant way to report THE major story on the islands. Others thought we
shouldn’t highlight events which reflected badly on the specific communities mentioned
and the nation in general.
Now, reflecting
10 years on, I think we did a pretty good job. Running a straight story saying murder
No 200 had taken place would have had readers turning to one of the other 140
pages. At least this couldn’t – and didn’t – go unnoticed.
Even now I
still find myself reading those details, like this one picked at random: No 71. Allister Jack, 27, alias ‘Stumpy’ a
taxi driver of Poinsettia Drive, Morvant. Found dead with two gunshot wounds in
Never Dirty, Morvant, April 8.
A life lost,
but not forgotten.
PS: If we did
the same page today it would read ‘295 MURDERS’.
