Jessica Soho
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| Jessica Soho | |
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| Born | 27 March 1964 |
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| Occupation | Broadcast Journalist |
Jessica Soho (born March 27, 1964) is an award-winning Filipino television celebrity and reporter of Chinese and Ilocano descent.
A Ka Doroy Valencia awardee, Soho was also one of the 100 Filipino Women of Distinction chosen during the centennial celebration of the Philippines.
Her story of a hostage crisis in Cagayan Valley made her the first Filipino to win in the New York Film Festival for Coverage of a Breaking Story.
Her documentaries on the Kidneys for Sale business and Kamao death sport made her the first Filipino reporter, with GMA Network as the first Filipino network, to win the coveted George Foster Peabody Award on 1999. [1]
Soho hosts Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho and was honored on October 14, 2008, by Quezon City with the Outstanding Citizen Award.[2]
Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (KMJS) was recognized as the Most Development-Oriented Magazine Program. Program host Jessica Soho got two awards – the Best Public Affairs Program Host and the Best Magazine Program Host in the Gandingan 2009: UPLB Isko’t Iska’s Broadcast Choice Awards. Gandingan 2009 is the first award-giving ceremony in the field of broadcasting instituted by Community Broadcasters’ Society (UPCBS) of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). It pays tribute to the best broadcast programs that air over TV and radio.[3]
At present, Soho is a reporter, host, producer and currently the acting news director and Vice President of GMA 7's News and Public Affairs.
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[edit] Career
Jessica Soho is a Filipino reporter, host, producer and currently the acting news director of GMA Network. She joined the GMA team in the mid-80s, fresh from college, barely finished with her undergraduate thesis.
She started as a production assistant doing clerical works. She was accidentally discovered when she was assigned to report a news when the newsdesk could not send a reporter. Soho’s first voice-over report was a feature story on the inauguration of the Light Rail Transit from Baclaran to Monumento. Later she was assigned to the defense and military beat. Eventually, Soho’s reputation and responsibility have increased dramatically since then.
For almost two decades now, she has become the familiar face in front of the camera whenever a crisis breaks out in the country, be it natural or man-made. Her assignments have included the numerous coup d' etat attempts in Aquino administration, the killer earthquake in 1990, the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991, EDSA 1 and 2, and the recent Oakwood Mutiny.
Jessica never dreamed of becoming a broadcast journalist. Her ambition was to become a lawyer. When she entered UP in 1981, she enrolled in Political Science but it was the fear of math that led Soho astray.
At the UP College of Mass Communications, Soho met the late journalist Luis Beltran who regaled them with tales of adventures. Beltran inspired Soho to finish Mass Communications.
She is the first Filipino to win in the New York Film Festival for Coverage of a Breaking Story for her account of a hostage crisis in Cagayan Valley. She also received the Ka Doroy Valencia Award given by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas. In 1994, she received the Grand Prize from the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union for her riveting coverage of a breaking news story. Jessica is included in the list of 100 Filipino Women of Distinction.
Jessica has also received the much-coveted George Foster Peabody Award for her documentaries on the underground “kidney-for-sale” business and death sport “kamao.”
The Peabody Award puts Jessica and her team in the company of internationally renowned journalists like Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, and Christiane Amanpour. What makes it more memorable, says Jessica, is that GMA-7 holds the distinction as being the first Asian network to receive the award. In the documentary “Kidneys for Sale,” Jessica explored a depressed area in Manila and discovered the unemployed selling their kidneys to make ends meet. After the documentary aired the government was forced to intervene.
Soho hogged the limelight when she went to Afghanistan when a bomb exploded during her coverage in Afghanistan, it was she who coaxed her producers and cameraman to get to safe grounds. Even though the story was right in front of their eyes, Soho knows it is not worth her team’s lives.
[edit] Awards
Jessica Soho’s documentary feature “Kidneys for Sale” and “Kamao” (Fist) were among the three news stories that won GMA 7 and the Philippines its first George Foster Peabody Award for Investigative Journalism. The Peabody award is the equivalent of the Pulitzer award in print journalism. The following is the complete list of awards Soho has won during her 22-year stint in the industry:
QTV 11's Reunions, hosted by Jessica Soho, was Highly Commended as Best Reality Program, 2008, which was won by South Korea's Nature's Platform: Deserted Dogs for Evacuated Village.
2008 PMPC Star Awards for TV, Best Public Affairs Program Host for QTV 11's "Hot Seat".
2008 US International Film and Video Festival: Silver Screen Award for Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho
Asian Television Awards, 2008 Jessica Soho for Best Infotainment Show
Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) Best News Magazine Program Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho, 2007
CASBAA/ABU UNICEF Child Rights Award Finalist, Jessica Soho Report: 'Missing', 2004
2003 Rotary Club of Manila , Journalism Awards, Hall of Fame Recipient.
2002 PMPC Star Awards for Television, Best News Magazine Show and Best News Magazine Host—Jessica Soho Reports.
2002 Catholic Mass Media Awards, Best News Magazine Show—Jessica Soho Reports.
2002 KBP Golden Dove Awards, Best Public Affairs Program for Metro Manila and Best Public Affairs Host— Jessica Soho Reports.
George Foster Peabody Award for Investigative Journalism.
New York Film and Television Festival for Coverage of a Breaking Story. Soho’s coverage of a hostage crisis in Cagayan Valley in Northern Philippines won the bronze in the festival. She is the first Filipino to have won this award and in the news category. She has also been a consistent finalist in this same festival since.
British Fleet Journalism Award, Jessica Soho, 1998
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Grand Prize Winner. “Kape at Balita,” hosted by Soho for both radio and TV won this award in Kyoto, Japan, for coverage of a breaking story.
Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award. Soho won this award in 1993. This is usually given to the best and brightest Filipinos in various fields.
1991 New York Festivals Bronze Medal Best Breaking News Jessica Soho
TV Journalist of the Year given by the prestigious Rotary Club of Manila. Soho won this award for two consecutive years: 1989 and 1990.
