A THOMASIAN broadcast journalist has urged media to give hope to the less fortunate through their stories and documentaries.
Cesar Apolinario, host of GMA Network’s iWitness, said the journalist’s duty included helping their subjects beyond storytelling.
“That’s what a story’s all about. It’s about helping, it’s about giving hope to less fortunate people…It does not end with us airing it, it does not end just by telling their stories but by helping them,” Apolinario said in a lecture last Oct. 19 at the Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. Alumni Center Building.
“It’s a good deed. It’s not a duty but a responsibility [to the] nation. I think ‘yun yung role natin,” he added.
Apolinario said stories should bridge the gap between journalists and their subjects to impart knowledge and inspiration to their audience.
Journalists should also learn to empathize with people and not treat them as mere subjects for their documentaries, he added.
“[Napaka-importante] na you have to befriend [your subjects]. You have to treat them like your family, hindi isang istorya lang. ‘Wag kang maglagay ng barrier kasi nakatulong siya sayo para maikwento mo [ang storya] at makainspire ng maraming tao,” he said.
