Alice Mascarenhas appointed chair of GBC Board

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has appointed well-known broadcaster and highly respected journalist Alice Mascarenhas to become the next Chair of the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) Board.

Ms Mascarenhas, a former Deputy Editor of the Gibraltar Chronicle and now columnist for this newspaper, will be the first woman to chair the GBC board since it was established over six decades ago.

She will also be the first chairperson to have extensive broadcast and journalism experience, including having worked at GBC itself for many years.

She can trace her history with the public broadcaster back to its early days at Wellington Front and has had links to GBC throughout her life.

“This really is a great honour for me personally,” she told the Chronicle.

“I have deep rooted links with GBC and to be the first woman Chair of the board and the first to have broadcasting experience – who understands both the work in front and behind the camera - can only be a positive for GBC.”

“We live in a fast-changing media world and I will always aim to be positive in my approach and to help take GBC into the next decade facing any new challenges which may lie ahead.”

The appointment is for a three-year period and a new Board of GBC will be announced shortly.

The Chief Minister consulted the Leader of the Opposition before appointing Ms Mascarenhas.

“I am delighted that Alice has accepted my invitation to take on this challenging role at a challenging time for broadcasting across the globe,” Mr Picardo said.

“Her experience in broadcasting will drive a sure course for broadcasting policy over the next three years.”

“I look forward to working with her in shaping the future of local broadcasting.”

“Alice is respected by fellow broadcasters and journalists alike and, in the wider community, as a person of rigorous integrity.”

“I am therefore sure that this appointment will be as well received within the Corporation as it will be in the community as a whole.”

“I take this opportunity to thank the members of our community who have served on the GBC Board over the last three years and who have also contributed significantly, in their own time, to uphold broadcasting standards.”

Ms Mascarenhas first joined Radio Gibraltar as a presenter in 1977 and left in 1991 as the station’s Head of Community Affairs, having also worked extensively in the GBC Newsroom both presenting and coproducing such programmes as ‘Gibraltar’s Political Development’ and ‘We Served’.

Opting to work in theatre for a time, she returned to GBC as a consultant broadcaster to head the GBC coverage of the 1995 Sunshine Games.

In 1997, she joined The Gibraltar Chronicle as its Features Editor, retiring 22 years later as the newspaper’s first woman Deputy Editor.

She is well known for her “Alice’s Table” column series in the newspaper, which is also the subject of six compilation volumes.

Until last year, she was a Radio Gibraltar contributor with her popular weekly musicals series “Centre Stage”, which was on air for 27 years.