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       TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO-MEDIA: Women Making Giant Strides




By Wesley Gibbings
PORT OF SPAIN, Jul 8 (IPS) - The rapid growth in mass media
corporations here may have produced more of the same newspaper outputs
and radio and television programming, but it has also served to open
new opportunities for women who are now seemingly taking over what was
one of the bastions of male dominance up to the late 1970s.

The advent of the short-lived National Alliance for Reconstruction
(NAR) administration in 1986 ushered in a new approach to the
electronic media with a more liberal thinking when it came to the
granting of radio and television licenses.

In 1986 there were two radio stations -- one private, one state- owned
-- today, there are a dozen stations. There used to be one television
station. There are now three stations, four cable networks and
DirectTV. From two daily newspapers in 1986, there are now four
dailies, one bi-weekly, five weeklies and several periodicals.

The expansion of the media offered new opportunities in a situation of
scare resources. Former Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago
(MATT) president Sunity Maharaj, remembers that when she entered
journalism in the early 1980s, women were not ready candidates for the
news desk.

Today, she is news director at Caribbean Communications Network (CCN)
TV6, leading a staff that is 75 percent women. "When I started that
was unthinkable," she ays.

Within the CCN Group, the Daily Express newspaper is headed by general
manager Shida Bholai and its news editor is Deborah John. Assistant
Managing Editor Omatie Lyder was one of the first female news editors
among her contemporaries.

At the 82 year old Trinidad Guardian, the precedent had already been
set many years ago with the appointment of editor-in-chief Therese
Mills. Mills is now chief executive officer and editor-in- chief of
Newsday, one of the newer daily publications.

At the Guardian, Sita Bridgemohan is editor of its Sunday edition and
the newsroom is at least 60 percent female. The company's advertising
manager is a woman and, when there was a mass exodus of senior editors
over disagreements with the board last year, the outgoing features,
news and Sunday editors were all women.

The "Journalist of the Year" 1995 and 1996 were copped by two female
reporters -- Kathy-Ann Waterman and Natalie Williams. Williams, who
won the inaugural award, now serves as president of the country's
organisation of journalists, MATT.

"I don't think that being a woman has made a difference," she says,
"but I think that those women editors I have served under have always
tended to have a better eye for stories that have a bearing on the
poor, the aged, children and women."

Tony Fraser, News Director at Trinidad and Tobago Television agrees.
"The upsuge in women entering the media has brought a greater
sensitivity to social issues especially as they relate to children and
women. This is more so in the case of young female reporters who have
tended to be more open, more sensitive and more understanding," he
says.

It is a view Maharaj supports though she is careful to note that the
issue of different perspectives is more intimately rooted in personal
experience and background -- situations which are not always
necessarily gender-based.

"I think we as women have come a long way for a number of different
reasons," she says. "I have noticed for instance that young Indian
women, in particular, have entered journalism especially the print
media, as a means of liberating themselves from other cultural
strictures."

She says this has coincided with a process of "democratisation" that
has been taking place in the media. "Access to the media is being
opened up, and people who in the past felt left out are being
encouraged to get in," she says.

She acknowledges the existence of corporate "glass ceilings" which
have tended to keep women in charge of the media at the middle
management level but generally not in charge at the senior management
and board level. "The thing about a glass ceiling though is that you
can each see what is happening at the different levels and ... you can
break that glass," she says.

In any event, she points to positive changes. She, for instance,
serves on the TV6 board of directors. At state-owned Trinidad and
Tobago Television (TTT), Ingrid Isaac only recently ended a stint as
acting chief executive officer and the company's newsroom comprises 60
percent women.

"None of this was possible in the 80s," Maharaj says. "We may not be
in charge at the board level, but there is every possibility that we
soon may."

"Women have to first recognise the possibilities," she argues.

Senior reporter Kathleen Maharaj says she sees no difference between
the way male reporters operate and how female journalists do their
job. "I don't think it has anything to do with male or female," she
says, "it's an individual thing."

Williams says operating with the belief that women have natural
obstacles or advantages can present a problem. "Some people say it is
easier for us to get certain stories than men," she says, "that is not
true."

"I think it all has to do with the personal style of the reporter,"
Williams says. "People respond to me on the basis of my reputation and
their previous encounters with me ... not because I am a woman."

Women's groups here have often protested what they describe as the
"negative portrayal" of women in the media. The weekly newspapers all
carry pictures of female models, in one case they are often semi-nude,
and there has been some concern about the image of women being
portrayed in US made television material.

But, as far as the shaping and presentation of the news are concerned,
the women who perform those functions believe giant strides are being
made. (end/ips/cr/wg/cb/97)
___________________________________________________
Bruce Girard             Agencia Informativa Pulsar
Email: bgirard@pulsar.org.ec
http://www.web.net/amarc/pulsar.html
Fono/Fax: +593-2-501 180 o 551 674
Fax en Montreal, Canada: +1-514-221-2009
Av. Atahualpa 333, Casilla 17-08-8489, Quito, Ecuador