Gloudon gets surprise lifetime achievement award

IT WAS with a look of shock that Dr Barbara Gloudon received a Special Lifetime Achievement Award, for her unparalleled service to journalism, during the 2015 Press Association of Jamaica Awards Ceremony on Saturday night.

The veteran journalist, who is known for being frank and witty as host of the popular 'Hotline' programme on RJR for 28 years, indicated that it was a blessing to receive the unexpected honour on such a platform.

"This is all a part of the process of life, in that you started early. I was just 16 years old when I started at The Gleaner, but the blessing in all of this was that I had very good teachers who taught me what was correct and what was not," she said.

"It's really a great feeling when your work is recognised, because it's not easy to get to this point where people think that you are deserving of such an award. Thank you for the support over the years, and thanks to my colleagues for saving the country with the work that you are doing. If ever there's another country that I still believe that I am committed to and have no intention of betraying, it is Jamaica. It has made me."

Making reference to the theme for Journalism Week, 'New Media, New Challenges', Gloudon encouraged media practitioners to be resolute in upholding ethical standards while adapting to the changing media landscape.

"If this country is to move forward, we have to trust each other more, and the media is part of the process of which that trust is brought forward and kept going," she told the gathering.

"More than ever, we have to maintain those ethics because, with the machinery there to get things done very quickly, very often the temptation is to settle for what you can find and the first thing you grab, but what we need is to dig deep in order to maintain the quality and balance," she charged.