Regarded as a trailblazer and a pioneer in the field of journalism, Newsday's CEO and editor-in-chief Therese Mills died yesterday.Assistant to the editor-in-chief at Newsday Camille Moreno confirmed Mills's death. She said Mills passed away suddenly at 1 pm yesterday. Mills was 85 at the time of her death and had served for 68 years in the field of journalism.Tributes began pouring in for the journalistic stalwart almost immediately after news of her death.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar issued a statement.It read: "It is with deep sadness that I learnt of the passing of a real stalwart in the field of journalism. She was a woman of substance, a woman of power, who earned the respect of everyone, in Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean, and the world."Mrs Mills changed the way journalists functioned, and I am sure all those journalists who passed through her hands over the past 68 years, can attest to this today."
Persad-Bissessar described Mills as a "guiding light" for young people who wished to pursue a career in journalism."She demonstrated that there was room for a third daily newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago, although there were influential persons who said otherwise. She was responsible in the shortest possible time in getting Newsday to number one position in the MFO Media Survey," the statement said.
Trailblazing career
Among Mills's journalistic achievements were the 1989 British West Indies Airways (BWIA) excellence in journalism award for most outstanding social and political commentary, three successive excellence in journalism awards (1985, 1986 and 1987) and her appointment as the first woman to head a national newspaper when she became editor-in-chief of the Trinidad Guardian in 1989.
Mills's career in journalism began at the Port-of-Spain Gazette, where she worked from 1945 to 1956. She retired from the Guardian in June 1993 and was asked to become the editor-in-chief of the Newsday.
She was also a foundation member of the Commonwealth Journalists Association in Cyprus, served as a CJA executive representative for the Caribbean and was a foundation member of the Journalists Association of Trinidad and Tobago. She also served as vice-chairman of the National Commission on the Status of Women, appointed by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in 1975 during the UN International Women's Year.
Mills was awarded the Humming Bird Medal (1987) and the Chaconia Gold Medal last year for her service to journalism. Last year she was also awarded an honorary degree of Doctors of Letters (DLitt) by the University of the West Indies.
T&T loses icon
T&T Guardian editor-in-chief Judy Raymond yesterday described Mills as trailblazer for women in journalism.She said: "She kept a low public profile, but she was a trailblazer for women in journalism: she came into the profession, and rose to the top, in an era when there were very few women in the field. Today it's easy to underestimate how much of a pioneer she was in that regard, but she was a journalist for over half a century and she would have walked a lonely road in those early years."
Raymond recalled that Mills worked with her grandfather at the Port-of-Spain Gazette and credited Mills with changing the print landscape with Newsday's introduction."I never had the privilege of working with her–she worked with my grandfather at the Port-of-Spain Gazette–but countless journalists worked with her in our newsroom at St Vincent Street as well as at Newsday, and have gained from her strength, her vision and her vast experience," Raymond said.
"In all these ways Mrs Mills has had a huge influence, which has yet to be properly recorded and fully acknowledged."Former Trinidad Guardian editor-in-chief Carl Jacobs, who worked with Mills for many years, said journalism in T&T had lost an icon."She was a first-class journalist. She had the instinct of a journalist. She knew a good story and getting it into the paper," he said.
Jacobs said Mills's legacy was the establishment and development of the Newsday. Mills covered several top stories while at the Guardian for which she won several awards. He also recalled her front page Sunday Guardian column Mamits, which, he said, became one of the best read columns at that time."You can safely say she was, for most of her working life, the leading female journalist in T&T. I think journalism lost an icon in the passing of Mrs Mills," he said.