WITH the surge of online reporting and the ubiquity of news materials readily available on the Internet, some of the country’s top journalists have reminded students not to abuse the power of the media and challenged them to go “back to the basics” of journalism.
The 14th installment of Inkblots dug deep into the fundamentals of journalism, and with the help of top media practitioners, taught 270 fellows on the rudiments of journalism at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex auditorium from Oct. 22 to 24.
Former senator Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. opened the three-day seminar with his talk on the Bangsamoro peace pact and how journalists should act on the two major religions of the country.
Nitty-gritty of reporting
Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI)reporter Christian Esguerra said despite being a structure-based craft, news writing is a discipline that requires constant practice.
“Basically, reporting is a discipline that you need to do over and over again,” said Esguerra, who is a former editor in chief of the Varsitarian.
Since most people are only “headline readers,” he said it was the job of journalists to properly explain the issue and its relevance.
In her talk, GMA-7 anchor and reporter Mariz Umali said broadcast media was written to be captured on video because this was where the stories of programs were going to be based.
“Every word we speak, there’s a video that you watch. It is also much faster if people would watch and listen to the news or other things in broadcast media,” Umali explained as she showed an episode from “Born to be Wild.”
Sports journalist Joaquin “Quinito” Henson underscored the importance of the sports page in a newspaper because it is the “unifying force of the student body.”
“Don't write for the sake of writing. You've got to inspire your readers to make them continue [with] what they are reading,” he said.
Soft and stern journalism
Nestor Cuartero, Manila Bulletin Entertainment editor and Faculty of Arts and Letter professor, said feature writing allows writers to be more creative and stylish in writing.
“One of the ways to reinvent and to be more interesting is to featurize,” said Cuartero, adding that feature writing is something which is close to writers and can help them in their literary pursuits.
“I’ve been writing features all my life. And I have to say, when you write, you leave something to the imagination,” the former Varsitarian managing editor said.
Philippine Star associate editor and columnist Marichu Villanueva said Opinion-Editorials should take the stand of the writer and it should defend the views of the publication.
Villanueva, a veteran journalist who has covered several presidents, said “responsible journalism” is a euphemism for self-censorship and stressed that journalists have a responsibility to report facts.
“The other end of freedom is responsibility,” she said. “Sometimes, people forget that you enjoy freedom but forget that the other people’s freedom is also affected by practicing your freedom. And this is where responsible press comes in.”
Sitting in the panel discussion on literary writing, humor writer Eros Atalia and multi-awarded poet Carlomar Daoana said it is important to first find your “voice” before you start writing.
Atalia, who is also a professor at the Faculty of Arts and Letters, said it is very important that the writer understands the world where he came from because everything begins and ends with oneself.
“It is important for you to know your opinion of the world for this would serve as the starting point in finding your own voice,” he said. “This is my boundary, this is my limit. When I exceed this, this is no longer me.”
Language is the most important instrument towards good poetry, Daoana said as he pointed out the use of figures of speech is the heart of the language.
“Poetic language necessitates a special care of handling with words. It’s not just something you simply write,” Daoana said.
He also encouraged the audience to begin mastering a particular language before exploring other techniques.
“You have to go to the tradition in order to fly with the craft,” Daoana said.
Newspaper aesthetics
Photographs should reflect the event and its historical moments. This is was what Associated Press photographer Aaron Favila said to the fellows during his lecture of photojournalism.
“Photojournalism is telling a story through pictures, recording a moment in time, to sum up a story in an image,” he said.
Favila told aspiring photographers on how pictures should transport and bring the news using visuals and limiting the use words.
“The decisive moment, moments that are part of our history, these are the moments we need to capture and to bring them to those who are not present to witness them” he said.
Parallel sessions on cartooning and layout were held on the second day of Inkblots for aspiring artists motivated in expressing thoughts through aesthetic media rather than the typical sentences and paragraphs.
Lecturing on the basics of cartooning, Jess Abrera, PDI cartoonist, said cartoons are for expressing the points of a newspaper which is most difficult for artists.
“Art is used to point out something in a newspaper. There are a lot of comics, for me my theme is political,” Abrera said. “Comics can be used as statements of a publication.”
Meanwhile, PDI’s Lynette Villariba discussed in detail how to make newspaper layouts effective for reading, explaining how it could create impression of how the news and the information itself are presented to the reader aesthetically.
“Layout is a medium, a tool, but what is more important is the message,” Villariba said.
Other speakers in this year’s Inkblots are Business World Research Head and Varsitarian assistant publications adviser Felipe Salvosa II (Research in journalism), Eldric Peredo (campus paper management), and Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas secretary general Michael Coroza (Filipino journalism).
The event was also graced by Petron Blazers Boosters Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos, and former child actor BJ Forbes.
