Alwin Chow was the person responsible for rejuvenating the idea of freedom of the press in TT, according to local media stalwart, Jones P Madeira.
“Alwin Chow would have loved to be regarded as the consummate media man, especially one in newspapers. This belied his very casual personality, an attribute which he could convert very quickly into the caustic, especially when he was being forced to be otherwise.”
Chow, 72, died in New York on December 9.
He was the husband of former Miss Universe Janelle Penny Commissiong-Chow, a chartered accountant, former managing director of the Trinidad Publishing Company, now Guardian Media Ltd, former chairman of the Trinidad Broadcasting Company, a former general manager with the Trinidad Express, and CEO of Trinity Housing Ltd.
In addition, he served as an opposition senator under the United Labour Front from September 24, 1976 to September 18, 1981, and as an independent senator from November 27, 1981 to October 29, 1986.
Madeira, editor-in-chief of Trinidad Guardian in the early 90s, said he and Chow oversaw the transformation of the operations of the paper. Chow wanted more exclusives, more investigative reporting, and to improve the product in general. He always wanted articles to be correct, celebrated whenever reporters had an exclusive, and ensured the paper was “on par with or better than” the rest.
[caption id="attachment_930319" align="alignnone" width="756"] Veteran journalist Jones P Madeira described Alwin Chow, the managing director of the Trinidad Guardian when Madeira was its editor-in chief, believed in press freedom. - Photo by Roger Jacob[/caption]
“At the editorial level, Alwin did a lot of work with us whenever we gathered to do special coverage and so on. He attended meetings of the editorial department every morning. That, in a way, allowed some people to think there was interference. The fact is, he never interfered. He joined, suggested things like elements of a story we would not have gotten and would reveal all these things at the meeting.
“He was really an essential part of what we produced on a daily basis. If he had to be tough, he was, and if he had to give praise, he would do that as well.”
Madeira said Chow was never afraid to “take on” anyone. This was proven when, in 1996, the government under former prime minister Basdeo Panday was allegedly trying to get the newspaper to align its articles to their thinking. Chow, Madeira, Maxie Cuffie, and other senior journalists refused and resigned.
Madeira recalled a group of them believed they should “continue something” with the journalists who left so they started the weekly Independent paper. Chow, he said, took part in the arrangements and was appointed chairman of the board. And even when he had other responsibilities, he never abandoned the Independent.
He described Chow as a very bright person with his fingers on the pulse of the nation so as to better understand what was happening on both media and governmental levels.
Communications consultant Nicole Duke-Westfield re
