News team, always on the ball

The editorial department is headed by Clare Keizer, who, in addition to being the company’s chief executive officer, has been the editor of Searchlight for eight of the 10 years she has been with the company.

Hitting the pavement, attending court and press conferences, working the phones and social media to bring you the news, are our reporters Jamila Soso-Vincent, Kenara “Kenny” Woods and Bria King.

Senior reporter Jamila Soso-Vincent is the newest addition to the editorial staff, having rejoined the staff in 2014 after two earlier stints. {{more}}With specific responsibility for multimedia, Jamila is the person who manages and develops content for the company’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. With the editorial staff being

as small as it is, Jamila, an excellent writer, also does general reporting for our print edition. Possessed of an alert, incisive mind, this fiesty young lady is the holder of a Bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Kenara “Kenny” Woods is our court reporter. He is our most experienced full-time reporter, having come on board 10 years ago. In a slow news week, Kenny can be depended on to save the day. He is a good storyteller and spends most of his time in the magistrate’s, senior offences and high courts on the hunt for stories that would make interesting and informative reading.

Our youngest reporter is ‘A’ level college graduate Bria King, a young woman who is not easily fazed. Having recently celebrated her second anniversary with Searchlight, Bria continues to impress with her willingness to take on just about any assignment. A good writer, with a high level of productivity and curiosity, Bria is well on the way to becoming an excellent journalist.

The person who manages our website, library and archives and processes e-subscriptions is the steady, methodical and reliable Michele Adams-John, who joined the staff in 2004. She is the person who interacts by email and telephone with our e-subscribers, most of whom are overseas. Michele is not easily ruffled and can be depended upon to come up with workable solutions whenever challenges are thrown her way.

Retired educator and diplomat Cecily Norris is the newspaper’s proofreader, she having held that part-time position since 2010. Ces brings to the newspaper a solid grasp of the English language, and a calm, steady, easygoing disposition.

Junior Jarvis, who up to two months ago was a full-time senior reporter with the company, is now a freelancer. He also does advertising sales. Junior is a 24/7 guy, who is always on the go. During the eight years he spent as a full-time employee, he brought energy and enthusiam to the job and could always be counted on to go the extra mile.

Most of our sports stories are written by award winning sports journalist Rohan Thomas, who has almost single-handedly filled our sports pages for the past 13 years.

Other freelancers include Edward Newman (photographer), Adrian “Tari” Codogan, Denika Compton (Bequia), Stanton Gomes (Union Island) and Colin King.