More training, zealous endeavour needed among young media workers

Former MWAG President Michael Bascombe, 
Lincoln Depradine & MWAG President Rawle Titus

St. George’s, January 26, 2012 – If one were to use the 6^th Annual Media Awards as a barometer of the quality of work of local practitioners, there are some things that clearly must happen quickly.

One is that the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG) must continue providing professional training for young and aspiring journalists; and second, the practitioners themselves must be zealous enough to do everything possible to improve their professionalism and go beyond the daily routine of their jobs.

The awards were distributed to winners whose best media work for 2011 was judged in Jamaica by Professor Canute James of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication of the University of the West Indies.

A total of 15 prizes were distributed at MWAG’s Digicel-sponsored awards’ ceremony on January 22.

Most, including WEE FM’s Mikey Hutchinson, were previous winners. This year, he was chosen as the first recipient of the Anthony “Jericho’’ Greenidge Award. It carries a $1,000 cash reward and a Digicel smart phone. The award is in remembrance of Greenidge, the popular radio personality who died last November in New York.

Of the remaining 14 awards, two – Best Locally Produced Commercial and Best Locally Produced Video – were given to Shem Joseph; and another – Best Public Service Announcement – was handed to Amanda John. Both Joseph and John are with Brainstorm Productions.

Television dominated in the remaining categories, with no awards for radio news and programming.

Radio, while popular with its call-in format and music, must consider other avenues for “edutaining,’’ educating and entertaining listeners. They must provide “edutaining’’ programming that would involve research, scripting and production; something that was a staple of radio in Grenada until recently.

However, judging from the Media Awards, newspaper and online reporting on the internet is faring only slightly better than that of radio.

One award was giving for online writing. It was a feature written by veteran journalist Rawle Titus, who is also MWAG’s president.

In newspaper writing, the single award went to another veteran journalist, Lincoln Depradine, who is also author of White Frock & Coals Dust: The Story Of A Community Called The Wharf. Depradine was awarded for the Best Entertainment Story.

All other winners were from TV: Sherry-Ann Noel, Blossom Alexis-Welch and Beverly Sinclair of FLOW CC6; Kishawn Thomas, Eugenia Peters and Orisha Joseph of the Grenada Broadcasting Network; and Cheavron Benjamin of MTV.

Oslyn Crosby, who now works with the Grenada Cultural Foundation, won for an outstanding tourism story that was produced and broadcast while employed at CC6.

GBN employees also claimed the Long Service Awards which are decided upon each year by MWAG’s executive. The 2012 recipients were Lew Smith and Eugenie Mason.

While local TV programming has its shortcomings, it appears that quality production in other media – newspaper, radio and online – needs to increase even more rapidly and requires the involvement of many younger practitioners.