45 years and counting - STAR reader remains faithful to publication

Every morning, before the engine turns over and the first passenger steps into his taxi, Algon Johnson reaches for the same thing that he has reached for more than four decades, his copy of THE STAR.

At 73 years old, the veteran taxi operator has made reading the newspaper a daily ritual, long before smartphones, social media and breaking news alerts became part of everyday life.

"I start buy THE STAR from about 1980," Johnson recalled. "From that night, mi just keep on buying it... every day." His loyalty to the newspaper began while he was working at Appleton Estate in St Elizabeth, a time he remembers clearly.

"At that time, life in south St Elizabeth was different from the north," he told THE WEEKEND STAR. "Things move faster. More vehicles. More activity. When night come, the train used to run and that train used to carry THE STAR."

It was a former police officer and friend, Winston Wickets, who first introduced him to the newspaper.

"Him buy one and mi buy one same way," Johnson said with a smile. "And from that night, that was it. When yuh buy THE STAR and the place slow, yuh just go home and read."

Even after leaving Appleton and relocating to Nain to work at Alpart, the habit never faded.

"Every day mi buy mi STAR. Same way," he said.

First published in 1951, THE STAR has long been one of the island's most recognisable tabloids, known for its bold headlines, crime reporting, sports coverage and popular advice columns. For decades, it has been a fixture in taxis, corner shops and homes across the country, especially among working-class Jamaicans who relied on it as their main source of daily news and conversation.

Over the years, Johnson has watched the price of the newspaper rise steadily, from just a few dollars in its early days to (before January 1) $85 for the daily and $110 for THE WEEKEND STAR. He has also watched the industry change.

"They don't do the Saturday one again. Is the Friday WEEKEND STAR now," he noted.

Still, the ritual remains unchanged. A sports lover at heart, Johnson said the newspaper has always offered more than just headlines.

"Mi love the football. The puzzle. The magician. And the crime stories too, you know what a gwaan," he said. One of his favourite feature is Dear Pastor.

"People ask some real interesting questions in there. It entertaining, you read and learn."

For more than 12 years, Johnson has driven a taxi along the Junction-Santa Cruz route, and over time his vehicle has become something of a moving reading room.

"Even my passengers, when them come in, them take up THE STAR and start read," he said. "Sometimes when me look fi mi paper, it gone, somebody see something and walk off with it."

He laughed as he described passengers sitting quietly in the car, reading while waiting for it to fill.

"Dem just sit down and entertain demself. The paper keep them busy."

Other taxi operators along the route have come to expect it too.

"The Gutters man dem say when me come and read, it give them chance to get passenger," he added.

Over time, the newspaper has become more than a habit - it is a meeting point a way to exchange ideas, debate headlines and stay connected.

"People always ask me what going on, because dem know me read all the time," Johnson said. "We debate the stories. Argue the points. The paper bring people together."

In a time when news is increasingly consumed in seconds on mobile phones, Johnson's routine feels almost radical, a quiet resistance to the speed of modern life. Born in 1952, he has lived through Jamaica's social shifts, from print-dominated newsrooms to digital headlines. While he understands the change, he admits it leaves him uneasy.

"Me sad say everything going digital now," he said. "Print might not even be here in a few years." "We older ones nuh too hot pon phone. Mi likkle son help me sometimes, him a mi little secretary."