AllenDESMOND ALLEN has resigned as Director of News and Information at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS). He leaves the JIS at the end of July.
He confirmed his resignation in an interview with The Gleaner last week.
Mr. Allen, who has spent the last 28 years in journalism, said he will be starting his own business after leaving the JIS.
"I'm going to become a media consultant, a public education specialist," he said, adding: "I have basically done it all and the last challenge is to do something out of all that experience and create something of my own."
In recent weeks, there have been rumours of clashes and disagreements between Mr. Allen and Carmen Tipling, CEO of the JIS. There have also been suggestions that those clashes formed the basis for his departure.
Mr. Allen confirmed that there have been disagreements between himself and his boss, but was adamant that this had nothing to do with his decision to resign.
"I have differences with my CEO but these are professional differences that you can find anywhere. It is not the real reason why I'm resigning," he said.
Mrs. Tipling also sought to quash rumours of clashes between herself and Mr. Allen. She said she could not identify any dispute in their working relations that could be responsible for Mr. Allen's resignation. "We have had a good working relationship over the years," she said.
Mr. Allen, 47, started his journalism career at The Gleaner and was the founding editor of The Jamaica Observer (1992-1996). He then left to become Executive Director at JAMPRESS, the Government news agency. When the agency was merged with the JIS in 2001, he assumed his present post of Director of News and Information.
Mr. Allen is a past president of the Press Association of Jamaica (1997-1999) and is general secretary of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers.
