Journalism, Filipino-Style

After a 12-hour bus trip from Legaspi City, 151 journalism students from Bicol University came to Metro Manila to spend their summer internship program under the auspices of the University of the Philippines’ College of Mass Communication. Like most people who dream of a media career, the students covered the May elections with thrill and idealism. Many, including six who were assigned to Bulatlat.com, discovered something else, however.

By EDMUNDO SANTUARIO III

Reporters who covered Elections 2001 may probably agree that it is a non-event. The violence, widespread fraud and other forms of electioneering were not at all unexpected. If there was anything new, it was the party-list race, which saw the good showing of the neophyte leftist party Bayan Muna. It was also a first in history where an election was rocked by a siege on Malacañang, with some candidates as alleged ringleaders.

Among those who covered the last elections were journalist interns – students from various schools of mass communication who used the summer break for their apprenticeship, a course requirement. Because it was election season, they were, of course, assigned to cover this political exercise.

The “practicumers,” as they called themselves, were all excited about covering the elections and seeing for themselves how a Third World “democracy” works. Some 151 apprentices from the Bicol University (BU) came to Manila precisely to find that out. They were going to test in the field the journalism theories and principles they were taught in school.

Six of these “practicumers,” who were assigned to Bulatlat.com discovered a different thing. They saw how journalism is practiced, Philippine style.

The 12-day BU internship was conducted in cooperation with the University of the Philippines’s College of Mass Communication. The students were housed in one of the Diliman campus’s popular dormitories – the coed Kalayaan Residence Hall, which is strategically located near the university’s small shopping center. The internship program evaluation sheet says it all: “The objective of the course is to give the student practical hands-on experience in various aspects of journalistic work, particularly interviewing, research, desk work, reporting and writing.”

Six apprentices – all female – began their apprenticeship with Bulatlat.com just a few days before Election Day. They were expected to cover the elections in Metro Manila, including such places or agencies as Comelec, Namfrel, the mitings de avance, the party-list groups’ activities. Some of them, however, were also assigned to do special coverages, dealing on some urban-poor issues at the National Government Center, Payatas, and other slum communities.

Coming from Legaspi City where the media industry is small but where, otherwise, struggling journalists know almost everybody in the trade, the six Bulatlat.com interns had to learn the ropes from scratch, beginning with boarding the right jeep or bus that would take them to their assigned beats to returning to Kalayaan in the dead of night. It would be an entirely new environment for them – the traffic mess, the smog and dust that kept on sticking to their bodies, the missed meals, the constant fears usually entertained by a young traveler.

Covering Namfrel and Comelec was not that backbreaking – it was the long wait for election results that was. There was a picket rally by teachers from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) outside the Comelec office protesting the non-release of their P900 allowance for poll duties. In another event, an electronic glitch delayed counting at Namfrel and the explanations of their officials had to be noted down. There were video cameras, laptop computers, cellphones, TV reporters all made up, groups of reporters milling around.

‘Intimidated’

“We felt intimidated,” says intern Elvie Imperial, referring to reporters who were apparently veterans in the beat and who came from what she thought were big newspapers or TV stations. “We never had any opportunity to show our potential as writers.”

Some trainees who were assigned to other newspapers felt some disappointment when told by one reporter that a journalism degree has no use – that the profession itself is miles divorced  from what you learn in college. Says Elvie: “They personally witnessed that news is not 100 percent based on truth. That exaggeration is rampant in news reports. That there’s no objectivity among reporters… What shocked the trainees most was when their source admitted engaging in some under-the-table transaction.” From all these things, she notes, “it made the students decide to discontinue their aim of becoming journalists.”

The nuances and the subculture that govern the Philippine press were beginning to unfold for the interns to discern. A few more weeks and their initial frustration could descend to disgust and, maybe, a sudden – even if too late – shift to another course.

Slipping out of this reality, however, allowed the Bulatlat.com interns to see another environment and for this they thanked themselves for a different kind of exposure. Outside the traditional beats, one of them interviewed streetchildren. From their voices came a not uncommon view of Philippine politics.

“I don’t want to be a politician when I grow up,” a boy said when interviewed by intern Janette Gonzales. “It’s more evil than my father,” remarked a 10-year-old boy, comparing politics to his adulterous father.

“We will not be in the streets now were it not for these corrupt politicians,” commented a child vendor in Intramuros. “I don’t care about who’s the real president. What worries me is to be able to have a meal every day,” a child from the slums of Pasig City said.

At the NGC and Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City, thousands of families continued to struggle for land of their own. At one point, a group of urban poor residents stormed the office of Housing Secretary Michael Defensor to press their demand. Apprentice Magnolia G. Estavillo, who wrote about their plight, wonders how soon their demands would be met that would fill their life with some hope.

‘A Dream Come True’

Not everything is dim, however. To a group of streetchildren at the Edsa Shrine in Quezon City, a school built especially for them could be a step closer to a brighter future. Intern Meliza Dellosa Espaldon went to the Makabata School for streetchildren in Sta. Lucia, Pasig. The school was built by the Makabata Foundation, which is composed of Edsa Shrine, the Poveda Learning Center, Teresiana Association and the Poveda Alumnae.

“A dream come true,” writes Meliza of the school. “This one great move from ignorance toward education may change many lives. Someday we would even have a president who is a product of this school.”

Mass-communication schools may indeed be faulted for teaching the basic skills of journalism but not the actual rigors and peculiarities that abound in the trade. Journalism schools try to bridge theory and practice through internship programs. But if internship program is the window that leads a student to see the real world, then perhaps such a program should run longer – maybe even an entire semester or longer.

Bulatlat.com tried to build a bridge for the interns and we’re just glad we did it to the satisfaction of all.  #


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