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Bahamas Press Club to Honour Elieen Carron with Lifetime Achievement Award
By The Bahamas Press Club
Nov 20, 2015 - 1:18:04 PM

Eileen-Carron.jpg
Eileen Carron

Nassau, Bahamas - On November 21st, 2015, Mrs. Eileen Caron (The Tribune) (Lifetime Achievement Award), Mr. Kenneth Francis (posthumously) for contributions at the Nassau Guardian, Mr. Wendall Jones (Bahama Journal, Love 97 & JCN Television), Mr. Anthony Ferguson (Guardian Radio), ZNS Radio & Television Network, MORE 95FM and Silbert Mills of Abaco Radio, will be presented with our Pioneer Awards, in recognition for their contribution to media.

Eileen Dupuch Carron, C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B.,

“I fought for the change of Government. I fought against corruption, fear and victimization. I fought against the drug culture. I fought against everything I felt diminished or was unfair to the Bahamian people. . I fought for equality. I fought for social change and I’m still fighting.” Eileen Dupuch Carron is a unique woman, mother, artist, pilot and Barrister-at-Law who exemplifies The Tribune’s unalienable founding motto of: “Being Bound to Swear to the Dogmas of No Master!”

Never afraid to express her strong convictions if she feels the freedoms, well-being and the rights of those who have no voice are at stake, Mrs. Carron, awarded a C.M.G. by HM Queen Elizabeth for services to the nation, and is the most senior female Barrister at the Bahamas Bar. She currently holds the title of the world’s longest serving Editor/Publisher of a media company; a tenure exceeding 52 years. This record is only eclipsed by the record of 54 years set by her father, the late crusading journalist, Sir Etienne Dupuch. At the International Press Institute (IPI) World Congress in Trinidad & Tobago in 2012, delegates representing media companies from 82 countries around the world recognized Mrs. Carron and her father, Sir Etienne Dupuch for their extraordinary legacy of remarkable courage, integrity, dedication and lifetime of fighting social injustices, and defending press freedom.

Ms. Dawn Thomas, IPI Board member and CEO of One Caribbean Media, told the hundreds of delegates that Mrs. Carron and Sir Etienne’s “extraordinary and remarkable courage under most difficult conditions, for their lifetime dedication to the freedom of the press set them as global flag bearers for the principles of integrity, justice and human rights.”

In presenting the award to Mrs. Carron hosted by the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Trinidad and Tobago, Ms. Thomas said that the IPI Board noted that it was time to honour “the memory of an extraordinary man…a man who was editor for 54 years of the Nassau Tribune securing him a slot in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s longest serving editor.”

“Sir Etienne’s life and legacy remain an inspiration for defenders of press freedom and journalists everywhere,” Ms. Thomas said. “In fact, just a couple of weeks after the I.P.I. announced its intention to honour Sir Etienne came the 55th anniversary of his daughter Eileen Dupuch Carron’s entry into journalism and her 50th anniversary as editor/publisher making her the longest current serving editor/publisher of a newspaper in the world. “And so in a very real sense this special citation also goes to her – not just as the daughter of Sir Etienne, but as the record setting flag bearer of his principles, dedication and integrity,” Ms. Thomas said.

Mrs. Carron, described by many political pundits as the “Iron Lady”, has been described as “one of the most powerful and influential women in the country” by the US ‘Wikileaks’ Cables; a ‘Living Legend’ by the Zonta Clubs of New Providence; and by Works Minister, Bradley Roberts in the House of Assembly in 2003, as one of the” reigning practitioners of terrorist behaviour" using The Tribune as her "weapon of mass destruction." He made these remarks in debating a Bill for an Act to Implement the United Nation's Convention to Prevent and Combat Terrorism

Mrs. Carron is the first Bahamian woman to be graduated from NYU’s Columbia School of Journalism, New York ( M.S. degree) where she specialized in the foreign correspondent’s course and worked under an AP editor at the United Nations. She covered such assignments as the long running Algerian and Tunisian wars for independence from France; and, the bombing of the Tunisian border village of Sakheit Sidi Youssef by French aircraft.

Mrs. Carron joined The Tribune as Editor in 1962, the same year that she became the second woman to be called to The Bahamas Bar. She was presented by her uncle, the late Hon. Eugene Dupuch, Q.C. , after whom the law school is named. In 1972 she took over the helm of The Tribune, succeeding her father and becoming the Bahamas’ second woman publisher. Mrs. Carron is the only Bahamian to have her editorials read into the Record from the floor of the U.S Senate, by Florida Senator, Bob. Graham (D). In 1993 she became the first CEO of a private radio station with the launch of The People’s Radio Station, 100JAMZ.

In her early twenties, Mrs. Carron became the first Bahamian woman pilot as a member of the Flying Club of Nassau. Born in Nassau on March 13, 1930, Eileen Dupuch Carron is the eldest of six children of crusading newspaper publisher, the late Sir Etienne Dupuch and Lady Marie Dupuch. Sir Etienne was instrumental in ending racial segregation in public places in the Bahamas and through his newspaper supported and fought for women’s right to vote. Eileen Dupuch-Carron was a student of Queens College and St. Francis Xavier’s Academy, Nassau before attending boarding school at St. Francis College in Hertfordshire, England. Once an extremely shy person she credits the experience of sailing along on the Queen Mary as a troop ship to the UK – as a young girl- with helping to cure her shyness. Upon fishing boarding school, Mrs. Carron obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy at St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, Canada before going on to receive her Masters in Journalism in New York and then to study Law in London. She honoured the agreement with her father that she would study law – as he has wished- if he would sent her to journalism school.

A perfectionist and sticker for thorough research, Mrs. Carron also believes that the media should be agents for social change and development. She likes to “get into the essence of people and find out what makes them who they are.” She has supported this tenet by her actions, as she has often used her editorials to fight injustice and the social ills of this country.

When informed of the decision by the IPI to honour her father Sir Etienne, Mrs. Carron was asked to give a statement on his achievements. His daughter said that her father was such a giant of a man it was difficult to know where to begin. “His influence,” she said, “touched every aspect of the life of this country as he battled to improve the lot of his people and establish their right to know and freely express their views.

“He was so passionate about a free press that he was willing and in fact did suffer great financial losses over the years…However, in the end he was vindicated. “When he passed the torch, he knew that democracy had been firmly established in this small part of the world and that his newspaper was on solid ground.

The fact that we have a tradition of a free press in The Bahamas today can be attributed to his lifetime of struggles,” Mrs. Carron added.
“The IPI is very honoured to have been able to pay tribute to its longtime members, Sir Etienne Dupuch and his daughter Eileen Dupuch Carron. Their contributions to journalism to Nassau and the region are monumental,” said Ms. Allison Bethel McKenzie, Executive Director of the IPI based in Vienna, Austria.

This accomplished journalist who has not taken a vacation in 20 years “always wanting just to stay at home, paint and be a wife and mother” Eileen Carron is the widow of the late Roger Peter Carron, a Barrister-at-Law from Eastborne, Sussex, England who worked by the side of his wife for more than 30 years as Managing Editor of The Tribune. Mrs. Carron has one son, Robert; a daughter-in-law Elizabeth.



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