Forty Years Of Covering The News
2. November 23,2013. SATURDAY SUN Anniversary Special.
Reflections
Message by Sir Fred Gollop, Chairman, One Caribbean Media Limited (OCM).
T IS A FACT of history that successful newspapers have uncertain starts. Thus it was with THE NATION 40 years ago. The myriad problems and pressures of a young newspaper were all present at St Mary’s Row (THE NATION’S first home) in the weeks following publication of the first issue on November 23, 1973. The word from the banking and business community at the time was that THE NATION was bound to fail as did the Daily News some five years earlier. The newspaper therefore had to prove itself against considerable odds. The record shows that THE NATION, from its first issue, sought to identify with the concerns of ordinary people. The target readership was not the boardrooms of Bridgetown, but the highways and byways of Barbados. For me, the greatest achievement of the newspaper was its commitment to journalistic independence, fairness and balance. Following the total destruction of THE NATION’S printing press on the Port of Spain docks as it was being prepared for shipment to Barbados, arrangements had to be made with a commercial printing company in Trinidad to produce the weekly paper. The Trinidad Express, five months thereafter, agreed to print THE NATION at a more reasonable cost from Friday, April 12, 1974. This continued until March 1977 when THE NATION acquired its own printing press. By then Nation House on Fontabelle had been completed. The contribution of The Express and its Chief Executive Officer Ken Gordon cannot be overstated. It went far beyond printing and included advice on most aspects of the business, excluding editorial policy, but including training of technical staff. Their efforts have been recognized by a stone panel, unveiled in the foyer at Nation House on Fontabelle some 35 years ago. It bears the following inscription: “This panel, made of Trinidad stone, is dedicated to our friends at the Trinidad Express in appreciation of their encouragement and active assistance in these first years.” There are two other significant landmarks on the 40-year journey of THE NATION. The first was the acquisition of Barbados Rediffusion Service Limited, (now Starcom Network Limited) in 1979. The second was the merger of The Nation Group with Caribbean Communications Network Limited (CCN) of Trinidad and Tobago on January 1, 2006. The merger gave reality to the joint vision for the creation of a Pan-Caribbean media enterprise with an independent editorial voice, serving Caribbean readers, viewers and advertisers, both in the region and worldwide with leading media brands in publishing, television, radio broadcasting and the internet. It also provided the opportunity for THE NATION to renew its commitment to reflect in its media business not only greater regional understanding and cooperation, but to provide opportunities for greater exposure to journalists by training exchange or otherwise. THE NATION, as it celebrates four decades of service, can take comfort in the fact that it has justified the confidence placed on it by its reading public and by its founders and other stakeholders — a confidence which has made it today the most widely read journal in the island. Above all, THE NATION has never been afraid to fight unpopular causes and to champion the freedom and independence of the media. As THE NATION moves towards other milestones, it must resist every temptation to even appear to abandon its natural constituency. Long may it continue to serve the people of Barbados and its readers in the far flung corners of the world. I take this opportunity on behalf of the OCM family, and my own behalf, to salute past and present directors and staff, contributors, vendors, readers, advertisers and all those who, by their loyalty and unswerving support, have ensured the success of THE NATION.
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SIR FRED GOLLOP CHAIRMAN, ONE CARIBBEAN MEDIA LIMITED
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