The Tribune

Anthony Newbold, President of the Bahamas Press Club, gave the welcome address at the inaugural ceremony to honour the pioneers and legends in journalism and mass communications at the British Colonial Hilton on Saturday night.

Welcome to all of you and thank you for coming out tonight and supporting this first ever Pioneer Awards recognition banquet.

This is indeed a wonderful evening and I am hopeful that more of you will be involved in this process next November.

I consider the night a success already, just by virtue of the fact that so many of you are here. I have to admit that we planned for a little more than 70 persons. This, then, is more than a pleasant surprise.

That occasions me to sing the praises of my team, without whom none of this would be possible, nor would the Press Club have reached this far. Anthony Capron, Vincent Vaughan and Lindsay Thompson - fantastic people. Deryn Prabhu from the Hilton and her team … all of the reputation I had built up over my life, I have to rebuild with her because every time we’d agree to something ... dealing with the wonderful group of people who are the Bahamian press ... I had to go back and change it. And she is a professional of the highest order so you can imagnie two of us having to go through that dance. Thank you Deryn.

I hate long speeches, and I believe so do most of you. However, there are a few things I would like to bring to your attention.

This night - and what it means and does - has been a dream of mine ever since a group of us first talked about a Press Club back in 1996. We must do more of it and my hope is that this becomes a yearly must-attend event on your social calendar.

The goals of the Press Club today remain pretty much as they were back in 1996, when Darold Miller became the first president in the modern era: a forum for social intercourse, further training and education, especially of the younger members, through seminars and presentations by senior members of the profession, both local and international; exchanges with like organisations worldwide and the enactment of a Fredom of Information Act with teeth.

As we recognise some of those who paved the way, we also recognise the sacrifices they made and the examples they set. And I say some because, and this is especially for those who have been giving me instructions and directions ever since we announced these awards, we cannot recognise everyone at once.

As we gather here on this balmy Nassau evening, I remind you members of the press that the group of citizens who most come under the glare of our scrutiny comprises mostly of the political class.

Remember also that both of our vocations, professions, require - no, demand - that we all be above reproach. That we be as honest as possible with each other, as both groups work to build up the common good. We are not always that but, even those who are our targets aren’t, we must strive to be.

We must also be careful and vigilant lest we are beguiled by the serpent called social media and the internet. Someone not long ago called it a sewer. I will not go that far tonight but let me say that it is the perfect venue for a Tar-Baby experience. So if we are not careful some of the sewage that floats around in there will stick to us.

And finally for this part of the evening ... the last month has not been the press’ finest hour. But we are better than that, or we should be.

The public has no time for the press to be sniping at each other.

We all should know the rule of civility and decent behaviour, and almost instinctively hew to those principles.

I know that young people, especially, are not always friends with patience and are not always as politic as they ought to be. But they must learn as quickly as they can, especially those in responsible positions. It is a requirement, otherwise you will crash and burn and wonder whatever happened to your career.

There is still some work to do in the media. I still believe, for example, that ZNS should be a public broadcaster in order to really do what it should be doing. Meaning that it would not be under the control of any government. There is always BIS (Bahamas Information Services) and the Parliamentary Channel. The private stations still need to pull up their socks because they are far from perfect, so don’t roll your eyes at ZNS.

One of my beefs with private radio is the often unacceptable, churlish behaviour of too many of the talk show hosts, who seem to always seek the lowest common denominator.

Remember, the media in general, but the working press specifically, is part of the leadership of the country ... and what is distressing is that some of us may not even realise it, which is quite scary.

I often ask if those who sit in front of microphones daily understand the tremendous power resident in that position ... and the consequent responsibility that goes with that power? We help to shape public opinion. We determine what goes on the front page, what is the top story and what makes the line up at all. The public look to us for guidance.

Keep the language out of the gutter and practice a high level of standard English. The public mimics you. There is no such word as ‘assessories’ and the experesion ‘you guys’ is an affectation and abomination. That is so impersonal, demeaning and insulting that it should carry with it five lashes with the Cat o’ Nine tail. We members of the press and media, we cannot afford to be mediocre or pedestrian. Our country needs us now, more than ever, to be at the top of our game ... be judicious, be fair, be balanced, be accurate and be on time.

Enjoy the wonderful repast prepared for us and the great company and then we will get to the real reason for the evening (honouring the award winners).

Lifetime Achievement Award: Eileen Carron, Publisher, The Tribune

Posthumous Honour: Kenneth Francis (The Nassau Guardian).

Pioneer Awards: Wendall Jones (Bahama Journal, Love 97, JCN Television), Anthony Ferguson (Guardian Radio), ZNS Radio and Television Network, More 94FM and Silbert Mills (Abaco Radio).

• Anthony “Ace” Newbold is Director of the Parliamentary Channel and a veteran broadcaster with ZNS