Irene Medina
ONE of the unremarked developments in the media for 2011 was the rise of women to powerful positions in the media, taking control at both the boardroom and editorial management level.
At Newsday, of course, chairman, chief executive officer and Editor-in-chief Therese Mills has long been mistress of all she surveys, but control of the other media houses had long been a male preserve before 2011. The year began with former Caribbean Communications Network (CCN) chief executive Dawn Thomas being promoted to CEO of the country’s largest media organisation, the One Caribbean Media Group. Later, Shida Bolai, who rose through the ranks of the organisation when it was just the Express, was on October 1 promoted to CCN chief executive to replace Thomas so that the top two positions in the media conglomerate are now held by women. Omatie Lyder was also appointed editor-in-chief of the Express newspapers in May to complete a triumvirate.
While Dominic Kalipersad is still Group Head of News at TV6, the female influence on the media company is undeniable.
At the Guardian, both the Sunday Guardian and Trinidad Guardian editors are now female following the appointment of Suzanne Sheppard to the TG post this year to join Debra Wanser, while even here at the Mirror, Irene Medina was appointed as the first female editor.
These developments may be unrelated to the election last year of the country’s first female prime minister, but just as Kamla Persad-Bissessar has brought a definitely feminine perspective to the Office of the Prime Minister, it would not be surprising for a gender effect to be observed in the operations of the media. So far, this has not been discernible maybe because the change in management is only now reflecting the fact that for a long time newsrooms have been dominated by women.
Media Watch has been closely monitoring and will at some point produce the analysis of what the changes mean for media operations.
