Philippine Showbiz Today
September 8 -21, 2018
19
Jessica Soho receives the Gawad Plaridel Award
Referring to herself as “a
promdi, or a small town girl,
who made good”, GMA News
Pillar Jessica Soho underscored
the value of “The Story” as she
humbly accepted her Gawad
Plaridel Award for Journalism
conferred to her by the University
of the Philippines last August
29. She is the first UP College of
Mass Communication alumna to
receive the said award.
Speaking emotionally in front
of an audience comprised of
students from various Universities,
UP Officials and many members
of Soho’s GMA News and Public
Affairs family—Soho said she
cannot overemphasize enough
how ‘The Story’ is the reason why
she is in media.
“The Story is what we’re really
here for; the reason for our being,
if you will, and what we should all
continue working hard for—to get
it right,” she shared.
“Some people may think there
is a dichotomy or a difference
between being a Filipino and being
a journalist but I don’t. I am both:
I am a Filipino journalist and I am
not torn between public interest
and the truth,” Soho said.
She added that through the
years, she learned the value of
upholding the truth no matter
what. And that defending the
integrity of The Story is now, more
than ever, crucial.
“We need more of this in these
perilous times when journalism
and journalists are under attack
by those who try to discredit us
and undermine our credibility,”
she said.
She pointed out that fake
news is just a deliberate distortion
of truth and reality and that what
is scary is that fake news has been
weaponized and has become so
powerful.
But she is quick to say that
there is hope. “The only antidote
to fake news is The Truth. The
Story.”
As such, she urged the
millennials in the audience to
fight fake news by being more
discerning. “Don’t believe anything
just because it’s been repeated or
retweeted or liked a million times.
It is never a popularity contest.
The Truth is determined NOT by
algorithms but by facts and facts
alone.”
Soho currently anchors GMA
News TV’s flagship newscast State
of the Nation with Jessica Soho
(SONA). She also hosts the top-
rating magazine show Kapuso
Mo, Jessica Soho on GMA-7 and
is the chief correspondent/ host of
the investigative news magazine
program Brigada on GMA News
TV.
Soho—who is widely regarded
as the most-trusted and most-
awarded broadcast journalist in
the country—becomes the 14th
person to receive the U.P. Gawad
Plaridel, joining the ranks of
Eugenia Duran-Apostol (2004),
Pachico Seares (2008), and Jose
Lacaba (2013).
She also recently received
the History Maker Award during
the HISTORY CON 2018 for her
significant contribution to the
nation’s life and culture.
Aside from being the first
Filipina recipient of the highly
acclaimed George Foster Peabody
Award, Soho is also the first and
only Filipino broadcast journalist
to have been nominated and
to have won the bronze medal
in the prestigious New York
Festivals “World’s Best TV and
Films” Competition in the Best
News Anchor category. She is
a 7-time recipient of the “Most
Trusted News Presenter” award of
Reader’s Digest Asia.●
GMA News Pillar Jessica Soho was conferred the Gawad Plaridel Award for
Journalism by the University of the Philippines