Jason MoorePalma18/12/2015 00:00
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Twenty-five years is an important milestone: more than half of my lifetime. But my involvement with the Bulletin stretches back even further. My parents were subscribers; we bought our first television set in Spain from a classified advertisement in this newspaper and I had my first article published in the Bulletin when I was nine and a pupil at Bellver International College. In fact, I have worked on the paper almost 27 years because I had a two-year apprenticeship first before I went on contract, but officially I have been an employee of this paper for a quarter of a century. Now obviously I have seen many changes. When I joined the paper our offices where in Calle San Felio, which to this day is the spiritual home of the Bulletin. The newspaper was still undergoing the transformation from traditional printing techniques to computers. Our international news was delivered by teleprinter which was a slow and cumbersome method. The paper was actually put together by hand (literally) and the typewriter was still in use. I arrived at the Bulletin offices, thinking that I would just stay a few months. I couldn’t type and had little or no knowledge about the media. The Bulletin in those days was a mix of British and American writers supported by a team of Majorcan typesetters and printers. It was quite an operation which lasted late into the early hours of the morning.

In those days the only sources of news were the BBC World Service and of course the Bulletin. The London newspapers would arrive days later. But I must admit that I embraced the challenge of working on a daily newspaper. It was great fun even though the hours were very long. It was a challenge every day: a challenge which obviously I still enjoy today. I also liked being a member of that special breed of people who are journalists; we are always right and we always know better! My time as a reporter was one of my happiest on this paper. The challenge, the chase to find the story, the thrill of getting a front page lead and of course a front page byline. Recently, at my late mother’s home,  I discovered a whole stack of my earliest stories for this newspaper. It was quite a discovery. Majorca in the 1980s and early 1990s was a very different place. But while times have changed and obviously newspapers have undergone a major transformation, I would say that the spirit of the Bulletin remains the same. Our duty is to serve you, the reader, and provide you with the news. The news is delivered in a very different way these days and of course we now have a website which is growing in importance. There are many people I would like to thank for the twenty-five years: firstly of course the owners of the newspaper, the Serra Family and of course colleagues past and present and you, the reader, for making it all happen. The future is looking bright for the Bulletin and once again thank you. Have a very happy Christmas.