Eric Jackson (born 1952 in Colón, Panama) is a politician, journalist, and radio talk show host. He is the chief editor of '' The Panama News'

and host of the Wappin' Radio Show, both of which are made in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

History

Jackson was born in Colón, Panama, on December 29, 1952, where he lived with his family in the Panama Canal Zone until after his father's death, when his family moved to

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills is a small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bir ...

, in June 1966. He became a radical activist, dropping out of high school and joining Motor City SDS Weathermen in 1969 and later living in

Yippie The Youth International Party (YIP), whose members were commonly called Yippies, was an American youth-oriented radical and countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the late 1960s. It was founded on ...

communes. In 1971, Jackson got into trouble with the law for destroying a Marine recruiter's literature table in protest against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. As a result, he spent 30 days in jail and was ordered to go back to school by a judge. As Jackson did not have a high school diploma, he was admitted as a special student to

Washtenaw Community College Washtenaw Community College (WCC) is a public community college in Ann Arbor Charter Township, Michigan.Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

and earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

br>
After graduation, he went on to study law at the

Detroit College of Law The Michigan State University College of Law (Michigan State Law or MSU Law) is the law school of Michigan State University, a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan. Established in 1891 as the Detroit College of Law, it was the ...

, where he received his Juris Doctorbr>
After spending about 28 years in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, he returned to Panama in 1994 to cover that year's Panamanian election campaign, and later that year became the founding editor of ''The Panama News'

Public office

While Jackson was in Michigan, he became involved with the Human Rights Party (United States), Human Rights Party and in 1974 was elected to the

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti (), commonly shortened to Ypsi, is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Township and on the west, south, an ...

, city council! In 1976 he was re-elected to the positio

He was also elected as a Democratic precinct delegate eight times and was appointed as a member of the Ypsilanti Building Code Board of Appeals by both Democratic and Republican mayors.

Literature

While in Panama, Jackson started working for ''The Panama News'', an English-language newspaper, that was in printed form at the time. The paper went on to become the online version of ''The Panama News''. In 2000, Jackson released a book entitled, '' 9°N''. The book's title derives from the approximate

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

of Panama.

The Panama News

The

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

reading community in Panama had been on a steady decline after the closing of the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

bases, making it hard for an English

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

to survive in a country where the main language is

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. ''The Panama News'' started out as a small English newspaper that catered to a small group, and as more and more of the hard-copy newspapers were dying out, ''The Panama News'' launched its own website in hopes of recovering some of its readership, thus taking the newspaper to a place where it could be reached from anywhere in the world.

External links

''The Panama News'' Website

References

Interview from the Panama Eagle
Article by Silvio Sirias

includes photos of Eric. *9°N Dispatches from Panama, 1994–2000. Eric Jackson. Panama News Books. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Eric 1952 births Living people People from Colón, Panama Zonians Human Rights Party (United States) politicians Michigan city council members Eastern Michigan University alumni Detroit College of Law alumni American male journalists American radio personalities