NEWS UPDATE: Observer goes full colour, creates history

LOOKING AHEAD: The Stewarts (Adam and dad, Butch) taking the Observer to the next level

The Jamaica Observer is now an illustrious all-colour Caribbean newspaper, a first for such a publication in the region. The paper officially went ‘full colour’ on Thursday, October 1, bringing to fruition the promise made by the company’s chairman, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, last month at a luncheon held at the newspaper's headquarters on Beechwood Avenue in Kingston.

At the luncheon, Stewart made the announcement, adding that the project represents an investment of $65 million, and a part of a broad range of initiatives to enhance the newspaper product for readers.

"We have by far the most modern plant in the newspaper business in this part of the world and we are going to continue," said Stewart. "The Observer is no longer the 'soon come' newspaper, it's now the newspaper that others are trying to imitate and catch up with. We're the ones that give you breaking news and we're the ones that have the original thoughts and creative planning.”

Stewart established the paper in January 1993 as a competitor to Jamaica's oldest daily paper, The Gleaner. The Observer began as a weekly newspaper in March 1993, and in December 1994 it began daily publication. The paper moved to larger facilities as part of its tenth anniversary celebrations in 2004. This year, the Observer celebrates 16 years as a national newspaper.