career file
by Elena Scialtiel in-depth as possible, without influencing the public opinion. In that respect she feels she is very privileged to have such a ‘glamorous’ but challenging job, but the quest for unbiased information is an arduous one, as keeping well apart one’s personal views or feelings and the responsibility of aseptically reporting about other people’s ideas isn’t easy. More so in Gibraltar, where we live and breathe politics, for a reporter who loves the thrill of political controversy, and jumping in the arena not as a referee, but as a chronicler, to figure out what makes democracy tick. “During one past election I was accused by some listeners to be too blatantly pro-GSLP, and by others to be too pro-GSD, so I must have done something right!” she jokes about her professionalism in fairly voicing both sides of the story. The bigger picture is one of Christine’s top priorities: she doesn’t stop at local current affairs, but she keeps up-to-speed with world news, and surely has met and interviewed an impressive bunch of A-listers who happened to be on the Rock — but seldom had her picture taken with them! From royalties like Prince Andrew and the Duke of Kent, to showbiz celebrities of the calibre of Sir John Mills, Rod Stewart, Frankie Howerd of Carry On fame, and 007 Timothy Dalton, Chris is honoured they took time off to grant her an interview that wasn’t instrumental to further their already rocketing career. She doesn’t shun the prickly question. Faced
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2010
with Edwina Currie, Chris just had to ask about her alleged affair with John Major: “Because you see, if I didn’t, my listeners would have wondered why I didn’t!” Maybe Christine isn’t exactly a war-zone reporter, but she has a track record of dangerous assignments under her belt, adrenaline rush guaranteed: from co-piloting a plane, to experiencing G-force in a Hercules fly-by, she doesn’t rule out a safari in the future. Mingling with African wildlife will be a walkover after her nerve-jangling experience during the notorious fishermen’s dispute: Chris and a cameraman were returning from reportage in Madrid, in a Gibraltar-registered car, when they found themselves caught in the protest on the Spanish side. They parked the car, and filmed their walk through the crowds, which parted like the Red Sea, until they safely reached Gibraltar’s side of the border, where
Christine isn’t exactly a warzone reporter, but she has a track record of dangerous assignments, adrenaline rush guaranteed: from co-piloting a plane, to experiencing G-force in a Hercules fly-by
GBC reporters were stationed, ready to harvest her scoop. For the moment, her son and daughter being her top priority, Chris is leaving adventure on one side and she’s delighted to be ‘paid to talk’ about anyone and anything that makes the news. Every day she talks to politicians, magicians, fundraisers, artists, astronauts... She prefers radio to television because its atmosphere is more relaxed and immediate, and it reaches the wider audience accompanying them at work or on the road. Chris is also a presenter, mostly known for her Breakfast Show, but often she sits in for other presenters on the mid-morning and afternoon shows. There, her tone can get more casual while she interacts with callers and indulges in another of her passions, music. From her times at Wellington Front, Chris has seen Focus evolving from her afternoon magazine Miscellany, and surely it has shaped the face of journalism in Gibraltar, chasing breaking news and running around like an ant to gather a wide spectrum of information piece by piece. For someone who dreamed of becoming either a lawyer or a ballerina, broadcasting was a family tradition, her father and her sister being in the business. She joined in well prepared, though, after extensive training for the BBC in London, where, in the late ’70s, she traced Churchill’s secretary and ‘grilled’ her, in order to produce a historical documentary on the Cabinet War Room, which had just opened to the public. n
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