 The UWI St. Augustine Campus will confer an honorary DLitt on journalist, Mrs. Therese Mills, during its graduation ceremonies in October 2012. Mrs Mills shared some of her pioneering journey with UWI Today.
When did you know journalism was your calling?
I sat the Cambridge School Certificate, as it was then called, in 1944. I was 16 and I simply wanted a job to earn some money. My school principal was an Irish nun who taught English Literature and who frequently gave me an ‘A’ for school essays. She knew the editor of the Catholic News, an Irish priest and gave me an excellent recommendation to him. He was friendly with another Irishman who was then Editor of the Port of Spain Gazette. It seemed the word of one Irish nun to an Irish priest to an Irish layman was good enough to get me a job at the Gazette, even though it was not as a writer. I was assigned to the Library, which meant I had to do a great deal of filing of newspaper stories. To file, I had to read, and being naturally curious I became very involved in all that was happening in Trinidad. I believe it was that curiosity that hooked me. It became my wish to be a good reporter (the word journalist was yet to emerge). I wouldn’t use the grand name “calling,” I just wanted to write stories.
You’ve seen newsrooms from decades ago to now. Aside from the technology, what changes would you say have been the most significant?
The first major change is the role of women, who have taken the lead in the modern newsroom. Unfortunately this role does not always equate with senior management status.
When I started writing I was confined to covering weddings, tea parties, fashion shows. The hard news coverage was the prerogative of men. That has changed over the years and women now hold their own in every area of the media today. In fact, good male reporters are an endangered species, which is not in the best interest of the country generally.
Another major change is the way reports have to be concise, which means it is a good thing I was taught the importance of being able to précis. In the old days, verbatim reports were required for coverage of courts, legislative council and city council meetings and these reports filled long, boring columns. Readers certainly had more time than they have today. Even funerals required detailed reports of who attended, who were pall bearers, who sent wreaths, etc. Long lists of the attendees were included and all names had to be correctly spelt. Today, reporters pay little attention to the correct spelling of names, even when just two or three names are mentioned.
In addition to poor spelling, grammar has sadly fallen by the wayside. Anything goes and there are times when I pity the poor reader who tries to figure out exactly what the facts are in any report. Reports that should be the essence of simplicity are now confused, convoluted diatribes that raise more questions than provide information. Reports seem to want to impress rather than inform; but that is not surprising, since many in the media today tend to see themselves as “personalities” rather than as news reporters. Frequently, the reporter makes himself/herself the “news” inserting personal opinions in reports and leaving the reader sometimes at sea as to where the report begins and the reporter’s opinion takes over.
What were the biggest challenges of being a woman, a mother and an ambitious journalist? Women today are saying that you really cannot have it all…
My biggest challenge was holding my own among a bunch of men, who, in the mid-1940s, considered themselves utterly superior to women. Work done by hopeful women reporters like myself was scoffed at and dismissed and frequently never made it to a page, unless it was a fashion show or wedding or a good recipe for pelau. I refused to be cast in a mould and decided the route to the newsroom was via feature stories about people of interest—which were reluctantly accepted—but fortunately, which readers liked. So my plan appears to have worked and acceptance of my work began.
I paid close attention to what was going on in the country, whether politics, business, social issues, even sports. I tried to keep my eye out for an interesting story to tell and went out of my way to get to know people, and what they did, from the highest to the poorest.
My real challenges began when I got married and had three children. My husband, Ken Mills, was what today we call the “academic” or “intellectual” with two first class honours degrees in Philosophy from London and Oxford Universities.
The “family” was my responsibility not his. This put extreme pressure on me as I was determined to have my own career as a journalist. (By now we were no longer reporters.)
There are times when I question whether I had bitten off more than I could chew! My work was growing more demanding. I was working longer hours. I got tremendous support and help from my widowed mother, but there are days when I firmly believe I should have given more time to my two daughters and son. They all did well at school, all graduating with Master’s degrees. My first daughter is now completing the PhD in Education at Bristol University. I am very proud of them and their achievements, but I do believe I lost a lot of their growing up because of the time, effort and attention that I had to give to my career.
Now, if I had had a different type of husband… well, who knows! But I thank God for my children who have been such a source of joy and happiness. I thank God for my seven grandchildren and now I even boast of great-grands! I think women can have it all, but they need support from their partners.
Do you believe the standards of journalism have fallen as many complain?
Yes, standards have fallen—terribly. But it goes back to the education in our schools today. We are reaping the effects of poor teaching, poor parenting, and indeed and ironically, the technology that has made everything so instantly attainable. Take the ancient art of letter writing with pen and paper, where handwriting was practised as seriously as grammar, spelling and punctuation. Now one sends “text” messages which invariably allow no room or time for expression much less spelling or grammar. I am of course very old fashioned.
Do you believe that increased social media threaten the life of print?
I do not believe this at all. What a lot of social media has done is help to spread misinformation which is taken as gospel truth. People believe then can say anything about anybody and get away with it. I don’t see how this can go on much longer as people will begin to sue for libel. Social media encourages instant response without thought and consideration or analysis. This is also true of course of print media but not to the same extent and hopefully the pleasure of holding a good newspaper in one’s hand will always be available.
What does this honorary DLitt mean to you?
It means a lot to my family who have never accepted my fears that my career deprived them in any way. I personally have never been interested in awards or even recognition for doing a job that has given me so much pleasure for so many years. No other career could have given me the excitement, the satisfaction I have experienced. Do you know what it is to wake up every day, leave home for work and not know what the day will bring in terms of drama, excitement, good news, bad news? |
