Seasoned journalist Jessica Soho is marking her 40th year in the media industry with the launch of a digital archive that documents her decades-long career in Philippine broadcast journalism.
Titled Jessica Soho @40: Telling the Story of Filipinos, the project by GMA Public Affairs is now available on YouTube. It features key reports, exclusives, and stories that helped shape national conversations and brought attention to underrepresented voices. New content will be uploaded weekly.
Soho, now considered one of the country’s most trusted media figures, did not originally plan to pursue journalism. She enrolled in the course at the University of the Philippines after deciding against law school due to its math requirements.
Her accidental entry into journalism eventually led her to frontlines—covering coup attempts, natural disasters, and war zones. Among her most notable experiences was a near-death incident in 1989 when the plane she was on went missing en route to Pag-asa Island. In 2002, while covering post-war Afghanistan, a landmine exploded nearby.
Soho is also known for telling stories that have driven public support and led to tangible change. Cases include children receiving medical help after being featured in her reports and families reunited after years of separation. Her team has even applied scientific tools, such as genetic testing, in reports involving babies switched at birth.
Soho’s program Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (KMJS) remains one of the country’s most-watched TV shows. In 2025, the show won a Bronze Tower Trophy at the New York Festivals for its investigative documentary on nickel mining in Homonhon Island, which also earned a nomination at the Association for International Broadcasting Awards in London.
Her 2024 documentary Secret Slaves, focused on human trafficking, won Gold at the ContentAsia Awards. In 1999, she became the first Filipino to receive a George Foster Peabody Award. She later won a second Peabody in 2014 for coverage of Typhoon Haiyan.
She has been named “Most Trusted TV Host for News and Current Affairs” by Reader’s Digest for 13 consecutive years and is the first graduate of the UP College of Mass Communication to receive the Gawad Plaridel for Journalism.
Speaking recently before young journalists at the National Schools Press Conference in Ilocos Sur, Soho urged the next generation to pursue accuracy and balance, while also emphasizing the importance of kindness in their reporting.
“If I have to live my life all over again, pipiliin ko pa rin maging journalist,” she said. “Basically, because I love telling stories.”
