First female elected Press Assoc. head, Nazima Raghubir, is a ‘Special Person’

Jan 21, 2018 News, Special Person

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“I don’t want to be somebody who only looks at women issues in the media; I don’t want to be held in that light. The membership of the media is representative of our society; it is a wide cross-section of ethnicities, genders, social background and at the end of the day, I have to represent those people and I think that is most important.”

By Sharmain Grainger

Women have been increasingly taking the lead in many spheres of life, proving in some cases that they are not only as good as, but even better than their male counterparts. Essentially the astounding development which exists today is that women are not only at the helm of major business enterprises, but they are even leading governments as well.
As such, it seemed a natural turn of events when for the first time the Guyana Press Association [GPA], an august body founded in 1945 which represents local media practitioners, elected an executive with a woman at its helm.
On Sunday January 7, 2018, Ms. Nazima Raghubir and the other GPA members were elected to office. But although she accepts that there has been a shift in the world order whereby men and women can today be able to vie for the same positions, Raghubir certainly did not expect that her election to office would’ve taken on a life of its own.
Several media reports have since followed, highlighting that the election of the first female to that position is historic and understandably will be etched in the annals of history.
However, it might have been the natural progression of things for Raghubir, since she has for years been involved in the GPA, perhaps as far back as when she dared to join the local media fraternity.

LEAP OF FAITH
Raghubir’s decision to venture into journalism was not something she had thought about for years. In fact, it was merely driven, and eventually materialised because of her desire to have a profession that didn’t confine her to an office.
During a recent interview, she recalled how a job application she wrote was taken to Prime News – a television news outfit headed by veteran journalists Adam Harris A.A. and Julia Johnson A.A. This was back in April of 2001 when Raghubir was 17 years old and was fresh out of school. Born on May 30, 1983, Raghubir attended Tutorial High and then The Bishops’ High where she completed her ‘A’ Levels.
She remembers all too well how her first day on the job was hands-on as her introductory assignment was to accompany Harris to a Post Cabinet Press briefing hosted by then Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon.
“I don’t even think he read my application,” said Raghubir as she recalled how Harris, immediately after that major assignment, sent her to cover a Working People’s Alliance press conference on her own.
But the media at the time was evolving to accommodate news events that were essentially unorthodox.
“It was close to the time that Shaka Blair [a Buxtonian who was a Community Leader and Activist] was killed. It was a whole different era of journalism that was new to the country. There were a lot of execution-type killings and incidents of police brutality,” Raghubir recounted.

But although she was just a 17-year-old, Raghubir was not fazed. In fact, like the changing journalism landscape, she too evolved and not only became resilient but a force to be reckoned with in the industry. She has credited her evolution to her mentors – Harris and Johnson.
“They challenged me from day one to do so much and to learn so much,” Raghubir confided.
But there were others, along the way, who helped to groom her the likes of Denis Chabrol, Chief Editor at Demerara Waves – an online news outfit, and later Wesley Gibbings – President of the Association of Caribbean Media [ACM] workers.

A HOUSEHOLD NAME
“I really had no idea what I was getting into when I joined the media,” said Raghubir amidst a chuckle. In fact, she disclosed that gathering news back in the day was completely different, as people did not have social media to rely on and therefore looked forward for their daily newscast at a particular time.
“People were looking to you for answers; to be that connection for them to things and issues, and I found out much later that a reporter has more of a social responsibility. As a reporter, you have to take bad news to people sometimes, you have to take good news too,” Raghubir related.
Although she joined Prime News ready for the role as a reporter, a short time after Raghubir was required to anchor the news too at times.
“Over the years, I have been meeting people who say ‘I grew up with you on the news’…I’ve realised that the entire primary school years into teenage years I would have been there anchoring the news and inadvertently shared their lives,” said Raghubir of some individuals who can easily be classified as her fans.
It is her unequivocal belief that venturing into the media not only helps to augment an individual’s knowledge base, but also helps them accelerate maturity.

“There are things that other people would not experience that we would experience every day…our interactions are very different because of things we have to cover and the people that we have to talk to; it really forces you to mature…that has happened to me and many of my colleagues, because there is a certain responsibility that you have to take on as a journalist,” said Raghubir.
Her advice to youths who are desirous of entering the field of journalism is, “don’t come into the profession believing that you know it all…if you come into a profession like this be prepared to read a lot; don’t read because you are forced to, read because you want to.”
This has been her mantra to youths, since Raghubir is worried that “this is something that is lacking in our society across professions; people are not reading enough!” But she is convinced that journalism is a profession that is poised to set the standard for other people.

ELECTED TO LEAD
But even with her eyes set on amplifying the crucial role of journalism, Raghubir’s election to the GPA’s highest office comes at a time when people, across the world, are eagerly anticipating the next barrier that will be broken by a woman. It was for this reason she intimated, “I think the [GPA] elections resonated with people…Ms. [Julia] Johnson was Vice President and she acted as president for a period, but she was the one to really highlight that this was the first time that a female was elected to that office.”
Running for the Presidency was not an overnight decision. In fact, Raghubir recalled seeking counsel from some of her mentors before announcing her candidacy.
“I remember asking Julia [Johnson] and Denis [Chabrol] ‘should I do this?’ Their response was ‘you shouldn’t be asking, you should be telling us you’re doing it’.”

It was a few days before the elections that Raghubir announced her candidacy and was elected unopposed.
But now that the pomp and fanfare has ended, Raghubir revealed that the task at hand is not a simple one.
“There are a whole lot of responsibilities and expectations…I think women holding public offices or even positions like this are held to different standards. They have to dress a certain way, they have to talk a certain way, their engagement with everybody has to be different, because everybody will be looking to see what you are doing,” she related.
Although she sees her ascension to office as a proud moment for women, especially those in the local media fraternity, Raghubir assured that she will be a President for all. As such, she passionately underscored, “I don’t want to be somebody who only looks at women issues in the media; I don’t want to be held in that light. The membership of the media is representative of our society; it is a wide cross-section of ethnicities, genders, social backgrounds, and at the end of the day, I have to represent those people, and I think that is most important.”

RESTORING PROFESSIONALISM
As she considered the state of the local media fraternity, Raghubir noted that while there is some good reporting, it is certainly not of the best, and this she believes is also a reflection of the society. She is convinced that “we have strayed away from principles for a very long time…respect for the media isn’t there anymore and we have to work on regaining that respect”.
This, she said, might be linked to the use of social media. Raghubir noted that while back in the day people involved in journalism did not have a direct line of communication to their followers, they do now through social media. While this has proven to help in the news-gathering process, she acknowledged that it has also allowed for even more.
“People are seeing your professional life, people are seeing your personal life, people are seeing sometimes our political views and we ought to have some sense of responsibility.”

But as President of GPA, Raghubir has her sights set on ‘bringing professionalism back’ to the media fraternity. This is in light of her conviction that the GPA has an ingrained responsibility to raise professionalism, a notion she’d amplified extensively on the day she was elected.
She hopes to achieve this goal by working directly with individual media houses. Moreover, she envisages the GPA hosting outreaches to better understand what is required to create the change that is required.
“It would certainly take a lot from us; we don’t have the money to do some of the things that we would like to do, but we can’t complain all the time…we have to revisit sources of funding and see how we can build a resilient association,” a passionate Raghubir asserted.
And a resilient GPA, according to Raghubir, would be one that provides to its expanded membership the best possible training available. At the recent elections, the GPA recorded less than 60 financial members, but Raghubir has the ambitious aspiration to reform the constitution of the GPA to broaden its membership.
This would be an instrumental move, according to the GPA President, since the constitution in its current form limits who can join. This is likely to see the GPA’s mandate being expanded to include videographers, photographers and even the people who work in the press.
“That is a work in progress…these are people who have not been in touch with the Association,” said Raghubir, who also plans to continuously reach out to media workers outside of the capital city too.

OTHER EXPLOITS
Raghubir has an especially good understanding of what is required to be a successful President. You see, because of the other positions she was formerly elected to at the level of the GPA [Assistant Secretary/Treasurer, Treasurer and Floor Member], Raghubir about two years ago was elected Floor Member of the ACM, along with Chabrol. The ACM is a network of journalists and media workers spanning the Caribbean basin, to which Guyana is affiliated through the GPA.
According to Raghubir, over the years, the ACM has allowed the GPA to raise a number of press freedom and freedom of expression issues, and is in fact known to address even legislative issues that affect media workers across the Region.
Moreover, it is representation that yields tangible results, much like the ACM has sought over the years, that Raghubir hopes to bring to those within the membership of GPA.
But this recently acquired forte will be one that will be added to a train of others that she is already passionate about. In addition to still being a parliamentary reporter and anchor for Prime News, Raghubir has also been engaged in a great deal of media and public relations work. In this regard, she has been playing an integral part in ‘IntellectStorm’ – a business owned by her partner – Rowen Willabus.
In fact, it was through IntellectStorm that Raghubir, in her capacity as an ACM representative, was in the forefront of the creation of booklets which simplify what Parliament is, for adults and children. The booklets, which were launched last year by Parliament, were in fact a project financed by the Canadian Fund for local initiatives.
“I have been able to tap into a different side of what I have learnt over the years…I have been able to do projects that I like that can help to benefit society,” said Raghubir, who was also named Editor-in-chief of Insight – a bi-monthly magazine with a focus on commentaries into domestic issues and developing stories relating to Guyana, the Caribbean and Guyanese internationally.
Although she aspires to do even more in journalism, Raghubir at times does take a break from it all. Among her favourite pastimes are reading, travelling, trying cultural foods, and listening to various genres of music. But what has helped to keep her a well-rounded and grounded individual might be her two ‘adopted’ children, Salina and Jason, and her niece Natalia, to whom she dedicates her Saturdays.
“I try to spend a lot of time with them because I think there comes a certain time in your life when kids force you to become grounded and to communicate in a good way…A lot of my fun times really revolve around them,” she shared.
In fact, the offshoot of such interactions has helped her to recognise the importance of family, which has led to her also spending quality time with her siblings, mother Lila Alli and stepfather, Mohamed Alli.

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