Respected veteran journalist Linda Straker, the long-serving Grenada correspondent for the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), has passed away at the age of 55 following a prolonged fight with multiple health complications. She died on Tuesday at Grenada’s General Hospital, where she had been admitted for ongoing treatment for more than a month prior to her death.
Beyond her core role with CMC, Straker built a decades-long career contributing freelance reporting to a wide range of regional and international news outlets. She also took on key leadership roles within the global and local media community: she served as an executive committee member of the Media Workers Association of Grenada, and represented her home country on the board of Paris-based press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders.
Colleagues, friends, and fellow journalists across the Caribbean have led tributes celebrating Straker’s uncompromising commitment to truthful journalism and press freedom. CMC editor Peter Richards remembered her as a fearless reporter who never shied away from asking hard-hitting questions that often pushed public figures to account, adding that her greatest source of pride was her three children. Richards shared that just one day before Straker’s death, her youngest daughter Naomi — who recently graduated at the top of her nursing class from a Cuban university — started her first day working as a registered nurse.
In a joint statement announcing Straker’s passing, close friends Rawle Titus and Nicole Best described Straker as far more than a journalist: they called her a driving force for excellence, a consistent voice for truth, and a dedicated champion for the entire media profession. They highlighted her well-earned reputation for upholding the highest standards of accurate, ethical, and public-facing journalism, noting that she spent her career tirelessly advocating for press freedom, independent media growth, and the critical role of a free fourth estate in democratic society. A decorated journalist, Straker was honored with multiple awards throughout her career, including the regional “Best Research Journalist” honor. Her legacy, friends say, endures through the groundbreaking stories she produced, the early-career journalists she mentored, and the barriers she broke down for Caribbean reporters.
Kenton X. Chance, the newly appointed St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador to Taiwan, founder of iWitness News, and a former CMC correspondent who worked alongside Straker for years, recalled that Straker was a staunch and unapologetic defender of press freedom across the entire Caribbean region. Chance said that whenever she saw threats to press freedom emerging in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, she would reach out proactively to coordinate action. The pair participated in multiple regional media training programs organized by the Media Institute of the Caribbean, the training arm of the Association of Caribbean MediaWorkers, where Straker freely shared her decades of on-the-ground experience with emerging journalists. Chance noted that the entire region has lost one of its strongest and most consistent advocates for free media. He called on current and future generations of Caribbean journalists to draw inspiration from Straker’s work and carry her legacy forward, extending his condolences to her family and the regional media community.