THE TECHNOLOGY may be new, but the principles endure.
On the 15th year of “Inkblots,” the annual national campus journalism fellowship of the Varsitarian, student writers were challenged to keep journalism relevant in the age of social media.
In his keynote address, National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose urged the group to remain steadfast in upholding the truth even if it seems difficult to do so.
“It’s hard to tell the truth in this country where there is an absence of a critical tradition and where hypocrisy is so pervasive,” Jose told more than 300 fellows at the Albertus Magnus Building.
A week later, Jose had more to say to young writers in his column in the Philippine Star.
“I find it always pleasurable talking with young people, particularly those aspiring to be writers, out of nostalgia, and because I’ve always felt that we oldies can learn so much from them and draw from them inspiration in our flagging and rickety years,” he said.
“Somehow, I also hope that they will learn from our hindsight — which is the lowest form of wisdom — how to avoid the mistakes, the crippling misjudgements that we made.”
The Varsitarian’s editor-in-chief, Lorenzo Luigi Gayya, opened the event with a short message, saying that journalism “is a noble profession that should not to be undermined by powerful interests.”
Validating information
After Jose’s keynote speech, Christrian Esguerra, a senior reporter for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Inkblots founder, talked about news writing and ethical reporting.
The afternoon session of the second day pumped up the fellows as Francis T.J. Ochoa, the assistant Inquirer sports editor, brought along football superstars Chieffy Caligdong, Younghusband brothers Phil and James of the Philippine Azkals and Barangay Ginebra’s Chris Ellis for sports writing mock press conference.
Social media poses a great challenge to print journalists, Ochoa said. But sports writers can still be relevant in the age of new media because of the discipline of verification that they practice.
“As print journalists, you validate what social media posts,” he said. “Print journalism is not dead. Print journalism as we know it is dying. But the very technology that kills print media is the same technology that keeps it alive.”
Ochoa added that a print journalist’s role should not end with merely verifying what's in social media.
“You have to stand for something. You have to find an agenda and really fight for it. Once you have decided on what your agenda is, keep this in mind: don’t let your writing get in the way of a good story,” he said.
A story should not simply be a showcase of one’s writing prowess, but should focus on the subject, he said. “Listen to the little people. Sometimes they have more compelling stories.”
The three-day event became a trending topic on the micro blogging and social networking site Twitter after Ochoa’s talk. The hashtag “#15thInkblots” ranked number six on Manila’s trending topics.
Inquirer columnist John Nery compared writing editorials to writing ordinary articles. “All opinion should be based on a layer of verified facts,” he said. “You can be as opinionated as you can possibly be, but be fair.”
Basics, still important
An extended session on feature writing was also headed by veteran broadcast and print journalist Nestor Cuartero, a long-time editor of the lifestyle section of the Manila Bulletin.
“When writing features, write about what you know and what you enjoy,” Cuartero said. “There are elements of hard news, soft news and even literature [in feature writing].”
He encouraged fellows to keep reading to be a prolific feature writer.
Cuartero brought in GMA 7’s “My Husband’s Lover” star Tom Rodriguez as a guest in a mock press conference.
Poet, teacher and literary critic Rebecca Añonuevo, along with writer and literature professor Danilo Francisco Reyes, tackled fiction written in both English and Filipino.
Lectures on Catholic journalism and journalism ethics were led by Bro. Clifford Sorita, the operations consultant of Radyo Veritas 846, Atty. Jose Sison, columnist for the Philippine Star, and Fr. Nick Lalog, a former Varsitarian sports writer and a former reporter for GMA news and public affairs before going into the priesthood.
They discussed the foremost role of journalism in lifting and empowering the human spirit and how the Church and State should cooperate for a common good.
“Communication, at its most profound level, is the giving of the self in love,” Lalog, quoting the groundbreaking Vatican document on social communications, Communio et Progressio.
The three lecturers described societal and domestic problems such as corruption as detrimental to the overall development of the country. They added the importance of communication as agents and faculties of evangelization.
Campus journalism in the online age
Felipe Salvosa II, journalist professor, focused his lecture on the 1991 Campus Journalism Act, which helped foster the growth of campus journalism all over the country.
“With the advent of new media and technological evolution, where will the traditional paper be?” Salvosa asked.
He concluded his lecture on the apparent prevalence of tablets over paper—electronic versus the traditional.
“Will school administrators and students see campus papers as still relevant, a decade, two decades or three decades from now? Many people now feel that going digital is no longer an option. It is a requirement,” said Salvosa, who is also the assistant publications adviser of the Varsitarian,
Manila Bulletin’s Tech News and Tech 101 editor Art Samaniego said in his lecture on online journalism, a new addition to the seminar’s roster of topic, that newspapers should serve as analysts of news delivered by social media, even amid competition between the two platforms in breaking news.
“Traditional newspapers might be in trouble, but news as a commodity is not going anywhere,” he said. “The newspaper could still be relevant if we redefine our role from bringer of news to explainer of news.”
Online journalism is not merely tweeting and blogging, as it is also anchored on core journalistic activities such as truth-telling and attribution to sources, Samaniego said. “If you want to be an online journalist, you have to learn the basics [of journalism] … Online journalists require specialized skills: core journalism and technical knowledge,” he said.
“It doesn't make you less of a human being if you attribute [to] someone in your news [story],” Samaniego added.
Making the audience understand
Willard Cheng, a senior news reporter for ABS-CBN, said reporting for television must be conversational, as if talking to a friend.
“Writing news for the TV heavily depends on the availability of the video and the sounds. So the videos that we have should not be used as just sitners or wallpapers. Videos should have a definite purpose and tell a story,” he said.
Cheng, an Inkblots fellow 13 years ago, also emphasized the growing importance of broadcast and multimedia as TV reporters have now become multi-platform journalists.
Returning as lecturer on Filipino journalism and on tabloid writing is two-time Carlos Palanca awardee Eros Atalia.
“It is not true that tabloids gain readership because of lewd content. It may have been true before, but not anymore,” said Atalia.
Atalia also talked of the divergence in understanding between ordinary people and “intellectuals” and how media should bridge that gap.
“How will you influence ordinary people if you don't let them understand you?” Atalia said. “Tabloids provide short news stories because readers usually have little time to read, tabloids understand what the readers want.”
Bringing out the creativity
Lynett Villariba, the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Art and Design editor, underscored how layouting in the digital and traditional sense interact online and on-hand.
Villariba told the fellows to identify the readers before trying to create the layout that will be suitable for them.
“Looking good is reading well. We should look at the page as a canvass, where we fill it up with information,” said Villariba.
The cartooning session immediately followed where Manuel Luis “Manix” Abrera, the author of the popular and beloved Kikomachine comics, earned laughter and applause from the audience with the banter of his characters.
Abrera said his works came from ordinary and random encounters in real life. Cartooning, as he explained, must be drawn from human experience in order for comics to relate to its readers.
Photos are integral to the completeness of a newspaper, Associated Press staff photographer Aaron Favila noted.
“You don’t need a high-end camera. You just need to be at the right place and the right time,” Favila said. “Photojournalists, through our cameras, record history. We have the front row seats to watching history unfold.”
The three-day conference was capped by a dinner and mini-concert during the Fellowship Night held at Plaza Mayor. Former MYX VJ Joyce Pring, Thomasian Idol 2012 Julia Mella, and bands Paraluman and Cueshe performed for the fellows. Alfredo N. Mendoza V, Mone Virma Ginry P. Gumapac, Catalina Ricci S. Madarang with reports from Juan Carlos D. Moreno, Jon Christoffer R. Obice, Josef Brian M. Ramil, Michael Carlo C. Rodolfo and Gena Myrtle P. Terre
