Date: 10 Dec 2023
Almost a year after the inauguration of Marcos Jr. as president, The Philippine STAR hired me as a desk editor.
When asked why I left legal intelligence and wire service Thomson Reuters, I coyly answered: "What kind of a journalist would I be if I didn't experience working for a newspaper?"
That was the truth. But I also yearned to make my late professor Guillermo Santos proud.
He died before I could have told him the news.
And if three of my blockmates read this, they might be surprised at what I am about to say since we were not all that close: I looked up to them.
Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) in Intramuros, Manila was home to three of the brightest people in its journalism program in 2014-2018: John, Jillian and Francis.
If they worked as reporters for local media at the same time after graduating in 2018 — whether separately or in the same newsroom — fake news purveyors would not have stood a chance.
LPU made sure to posit itself as a microcosm of Philippine politics in 2018: hurling accusations against the media and spreading disinformation, just like its alumnus Rodrigo Duterte, who earned the support of the *censored* as students, faculty and non-teaching personnel were encouraged to wear red, on a day I could barely remember, in support of the former president.
(There is evidence of that happening, but it would not make sense to mention it as it could be deleted. I kept a screenshot just in case)
Maybe the *censored* celebrated if only for the rodomontade that a president hailed from LPU, policy be damned since Duterte vaguely spoke of an unclear platform in his campaign, instead of from other famous universities.
I wonder what *censored* thinks now, after the drug war left hundreds of Filipinos dead.
Their pompous jubilee and the subsequent maligning of a campus newspaper robbed the media of three figures who would not have allowed the likes of *censored* to spread lies nor would they be given a spotlight with their "bleh!" face.
John, Jillian and Francis remind me of what journalism should be like before The LPU Independent Sentinel was shut down based on false and baseless claims. No matter how powerless we were at the time, we did our best and I am proud of us.
They also remind me of how professionals should conduct themselves in and out of work; they do not reek of entitlement.
Six months later with The STAR, I am glad to report mostly positive emotions.
The editors are excellent and open to answering my questions regarding the paper’s coverage of certain entities.
Nothing can surprise me; armed with knowledge from numerous theses and publicly available research tackling media ownership in the Philippines, I understood the limits of broadsheets and writers and what it meant to remain faithful to styles and quirks and why we cover a certain person’s every move.
It would be nice to discuss these with Sir Gil, Ms Ren, Sir Henson and the trio, and how they would react if I told them that *censored* said "eh" when I requested for info to be verified.
Or with my Sentinel seniors who I got to work with as we tried to survive the early morning shift at an Australian media intelligence service. Or the writers I met at news agency Rappler as it reminded on-the-job trainees to self-check their work and verify what needs to be verified.
There is much more to learn; my baptism of fire or oopsie a few months ago concerning a government agency and a bank’s name felt surprisingly familiar.
And while it would be nice to do field work and hit quotas or stare at *censored* in disbelief, I can contribute more by staying behind; editing articles, helping editors, reminding *censored* of the bare minimum and doing moral support.
It would also be nice to work with the trio again, now that we are older, wiser and can impact a corporation’s profitability.
Maybe someday, I get to hold *censored* accountable without fear of *censored* and we also get to say, “it’s reckoning time.” (Congrats, De Lima, as classroom discussions on media’s coverage and whatever filth came out of congressmen’s mouths horrified us all back in the day)
But for now, I shall stay true to my years of training and uphold the words of Sir Gil who reminded students, non-verbatim, that journalists are not objective because they are subjective to the truth.
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