Sunday School students at Fellowship Tabernacle on Sunday did a lively rendition in recognition of Parents' Month. Members of the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) attended the church service to mark the start of Journalism Week. Fathers' Incorporated was presented with the National Press Award. - Dennis Coke
FATHERS' INCORPORATED, a special parenting group established in 1991 by men to support and help men become better parents, is this year's recipient of the Press Association of Jamaica's (PAJ) National Press Award.
Its founder, Professor Barry Chevannes, accepted the award on behalf of the group during a church service on Sunday to launch National Journalism Week 2001 under the theme "Jamaican Journalism - What Future"?. The service was held at Fellowship Tabernacle, Half-Way Tree Road. The award is presented each year to a group or individual for outstanding community service.
Host Pastor, Al Miller, during a 70-minute sermon exhorted journalists to "always report the truth". He argued that truth was fundamental for the development of any nation and urged journalists to be uncompromising in the way they practised their craft.
According to the Rev. Miller, problems of crime and violence, corruption, political tribalism and economic woes will not be overcome until the country's leaders and its people acknowledge where they have gone wrong. He said it was necessary to "confront the truth of our past" to move on into the future. He urged the Press to be the guardian of truth as "God requires truth".
Donna Ortega, PAJ President, said the week would be used to "examine the business of press freedom and the responsibility that goes alongside that freedom". Journalists she said should provide information that allow people to make informed decisions. She lamented the fact that many continue to "confuse freedom with freeness".
"We skate on the edge of the law. Not only the law of libel but the law of profanity ..." Ms Ortega remarked. She urged journalists to reflect on what it is to practise journalism in Jamaica from an ethical standpoint, and to do so with integrity.
Meantime, Professor Chevannes in accepting the award thanked the PAJ for the "great honour". "When I saw this I was literally bowled over. I never thought that anybody really cared about what we are doing," he told The Gleaner. "I never knew that we were even noticed," he confessed. The University of the West Indies Dean said the group was motivated to work even harder.
According to Chevannes, much had been done in the 10 years since the group was established to change the image of the Jamaican father. He noted that research had now shown that Jamaican fathers while not perfect, are not the monsters they have been made out to be. With its motto being to 'protect the image of fatherhood' Fathers' Inc will this year focus its attention on the single father. "It is becoming something of a phenomenon of which a lot needs to be said," Professor Chevannes said.
He remains undaunted by the stereotype of the Jamaican male as an irresponsible person who abuses his spouse and children. "There are a lot of good men out there," he asserted while pointing to the group's "biggest achievement" to date - that of "helping to bring about a change in the perception of how fathers are viewed". He pointed to Fathers' Day which was "seen as nothing" in Jamaica. This has changed however, with the presentation each year since 1997, of the 'Model Father' award. The competition is aimed at exposing ordinary fathers, doing exceptional jobs in loving, nurturing and providing for their families.
Fathers' Inc., also instituted the first Fathers' Day concert under the patronage of the Governor-General and the Prime Minister.
