Jessica Soho

As a reporter, host and producer, Jessica Soho specializes in investigative reporting for news and public affairs programs on television, as well as for documentaries and special reports.

Over the years, Jessica Soho has worked to bring investigative journalism in mainstream television in the Philippines. She conceptualized and helped establish Brigada Siete and Emergency, two of the country's pioneering investigative newsmagazine programs.

Jessica Soho is a graduate of the University of the Philippines. An accidental journalist whose dream was to become a lawyer, Jessica started as a reporter in 1985, choosing to work in television despite her lack of training in broadcast journalism. She learned the ropes at GMA-7, where she started as a news reporter covering the military-defense beat among other editorial beats. Then as now, she also covered unusual news events such as man-made and natural calamities, from killer earthquakes to super typhoons, even coup attempts and high-profile hostage situations.

Jessica holds many firsts in the industry, among them being 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 first Ka Doroy Valencia Award given by the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas and the first Filipino - with GMA-7 as the first Filipino network - to win the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for her documentaries on the underground "Kidney-for-Sale" business and death sport "Kamao." In 1994, she received the Grand Prize from the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union for her riveting coverage of a breaking news story. More recently, Jessica Soho was counted as one of 100 Filipino Women of Distinction during the centennial celebration of the Philippine Republic.

Jessica Soho currently heads the Special Assignments Team (SAT) of GMA News and Public Affairs, which produces in-depth and investigative reports for the news programs Saksi and Frontpage. She also produces, hosts, reports and writes for the documentary series, I-witness, the first full-length documentary series in recent Philippine history to explore the power of the visual medium for this purpose. The show's success proved that good journalism has a place in an industry plagued by commercialism and sensationalism.

While keeping a hectic schedule at work, Jessica Soho has served as director and secretary of the National Press Club and as President of the Defense Press Corps. For the past four years, she has also been a member of the screening committee for the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM), an award she herself received in 1993. She was a fellow and delegate to various local and international media conferences and fora and was given special recognition by her fellow Ilocanos of San Fernando City, La Union.

Source: Search for Outstanding Journalists 2001 (Souvenir Program)