PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD – Sir Etienne Dupuch, editor and publisher of The Tribune for 54 years and current Tribune editor/publisher Eileen Dupuch Carron were honoured Monday by the International Press Institute (IPI) based in Vienna, Austria for their remarkable courage, integrity, dedication and lifetime of fighting social injustices, and defending press freedom. Sir Etienne was given a special citation posthumously as the longest serving editor in history. He was editor of The Tribune for 54 years and was knighted by three different countries.

In making the announcement at IPI’s 63rd Annual World Congress Awards Dinner held on Monday at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Ms Dawn Thomas, IPI Board member and CEO of One Caribbean Media, told the delegates from more than 82 countries that their “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 at the dinner, hosted by the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Trinidad and Tobago, and attended by hundreds of delegates, 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.”

“His 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 IPI 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.

Sir Etienne joined the International Press Institute based in Vienna, Austria in mid-1960 and died at the age of 92. He began his career delivering newspapers… and became editor in 1919 after serving in the First World War. The Tribune was launched by his father Leon Dupuch in 1903 under the slogan “Being Bound to Swear to the Dogmas of No Master.” The newspaper was envisioned to serve all society.

“Sir Etienne kept these principles alive; his editorials on social justice and freedom of the press were influential,” Ms Thomas added.

“He also served in the Bahamas House of Assembly for 31 years where he acted as a catalyst for civil rights…proposing a resolution to ban racial discrimination in public places in Parliament in 1956. He also served on the Legislative Council and in the Senate along with his brother Eugene Dupuch.

“When the PLP came to power, Sir Etienne foresaw the troubles that lay ahead and despite the attempts to pressure the newspaper, and even to close it down, he remained committed to a free press.”

When informed of the decision to honour Sir Etienne and 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 long time 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.

In accepting the award on behalf of his grandfather and mother, Mr Robert Dupuch Carron said it was an honour to be present and thanked “the IPI for bestowing such an honour on my grandfather who the late Lord Beaverbrook called the most ‘fluent writer in the Commonwealth’ and who Bahamians simply called ‘the greatest Bahamian warrior with a pen’.” He said his mother, at times referred to as the “Iron Lady”, is “celebrating her 50th year as our Editor/Publisher”.

“Even though he would have been 113 years old this year, I know that wherever he is my grandfather would be envying me being here without him as he tried not to miss a press conference,” Mr Carron laughed.

“My grandfather was a giant of a man, with a magnetic personality. He and my mother are fearless warriors, battling for the downtrodden and the rights of the less fortunate. Their crusade was for all to be able to live in a country that was open to all to develop their God-given talents, regardless of the colour of their skin, their creed, their religion, their political party, or their economic class.

“Bahamians I am sure will remember Sir Etienne for his work for the UK during the Second World War, his charitable work – which we continue today – his work as an MP for 31 years; his proposing of a Resolution in the House of Assembly in 1956 to outlaw all racial discrimination in public places. But our people will remember and thank him for his greatest gift to the country – a free press,” Mr Carron said.

“He kept the columns of The Tribune open to expressions of views, which the powers that be preferred not to be heard, at great courage and personal sacrifice,” said his grandson.

“In the early battle for a free press, I can remember an article he wrote from Zurich in 1976 – in fact during the 24th General Assembly of this esteemed body. He told his readers in The Bahamas that they did not understand the meaning of the term ‘freedom of the press’. To many it meant that men and women like us who write and publish were free to write what we wanted.

“‘It is nothing of the sort,’ wrote Sir Etienne, ‘in fact it was the freedom of the people through the medium of the press – for wherever the press is suppressed the people lose their freedoms’.

“My grandfather greatly appreciated the work done by what he called his ‘three Press Associations— IPI, CPU, IAPA’. He felt that when the PLP decided to bring in legislation that would have virtually curbed Freedom of the Press, if it were not for the support given by IPI, CPU, which held a ‘watching brief’ and the head of IAPA flying to the Bahamas to see the PM, the cause would have been lost.

“As they say the apple doesn’t far from the tree and today his fearless daughter, my mother, nicknamed the ‘Iron Lady’ is at our helm. So, despite the threats we endured, despite the denial of work permits from government for our ex-pat staff in the past, the refusal to issue my and my family’s citizenship documents and passports by the PLP for over 25 years, from being excluded from government contracts for over 25 years, and, of course, my mother being labelled from the floor of Parliament as ‘the terrorist of Shirley Street,’ the crusade for truth, honestly and freedom of expression continues.

“Needless to say – thanks to the support of the IPI and its worldwide delegates, my grandfather won his battle. I have no doubt that with our united spirit and will, that we all will overcome and triumph in our battles ahead.

“On behalf of The Tribune Media Group, my family and our country I would like to thank you so very much for this wonderful worldwide recognition of my grandfather and mother,” Mr Carron said.