– as PAHO awards local media corps

LOCAL journalists were reminded of their critical role in sensitising the public on pertinent health matters, as they were awarded for their contributions to the field of health journalism throughout the year.

At the annual Pan-American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) Clare Forrester Media Awards for Health Journalism held at the Marriott Hotel on Saturday, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo delivered the feature address where he noted that health journalism—and journalism on a whole—is not a “sexy profession”.

According to him, the role of a true journalist is to bring issues to the attention of the people by bringing out the facts without sensationalising the topic.

And specifically, he stressed, “The job of the journalist in health journalism is to be able to learn most times.”

Echoing these sentiments was Junior Minister of Health Dr. Karen Cummings who explained that everyday journalists are tasked with taking complex (and even highly scientific) issues and presenting them in such a way that all citizens can digest the information readily.

The prime minister urged that journalists remain fearless in the pursuit of truth and facts, even in the sometimes daunting profession and stressed that emphasis must be placed on reporting on what is happening in the health sector.

But President of the Guyana Press Association (GPA) Nazima Raghubir noted that while media workers must be diligent in their work, public officials too must understand the role of the media in enforcing democracy and transparency.

“The media [are] important… they are critical members of the health sector,” she said while explaining that often, the general public turns to the media first for answers and insights.

This year, the awards were held under the theme: “Strengthening health systems to achieve universal health, through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Guyana.” To this end, PAHO/WHO Representative to Guyana, Dr. William Adu-Krow said that the awards continue to be supported in order to foster progressive journalism in Guyana and to improve the overall standard of journalism in Guyana.

Leading the field of health journalism was the Guyana National Newspapers Limited

(GNNL)/ Guyana Chronicle, which emerged the overall winning entity once again after media workers from this media house chalked up 11 awards—the most from an individual media house.

Earning accolades for this newspaper were six journalists and two photographers. Senior Reporter Michel Outridge kicked off the awards after copping third place in both the Best News Story (Print) and News Story (Online); Deputy Chief Reporter Rabindra Rooplall copped the second place prize for Best News Story (print), but won the Best News Feature (print) award; Senior Reporter Lisa Hamilton copped the second spot for Best News Feature and Photographer Samuel Maughn also scored second in the Photojournalism category. Chronicle’s Chief Photographer Adrian Narine won the Photojournalism category.

Senior Reporter and Linden Correspondent, Vanessa Braithwaite copped the best Radio Story; and finally, young freelance journalists Naomi Marshall and Vishani Ragobeer won first place in the Best News Story (Print) and Best Feature Story (online), respectively. Ragobeer also won a special prize for the Best News Story in support of the Mass Drug Administration (MDA) campaign to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis.

PAHO/WHO also awarded other media workers in the categories of Television (News and Feature) and Edutainment. Notably, popular Journalist Handell Duncan emerged as the overall winner after chalking up three top awards throughout the night.

These awards came out of a pool of some 104 entries submitted this year.