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(July 8, 2004) Print media has gone a long, long way through years. From the noble, revolutionary times to the more intrepid, contemporaneity, it has freed the Filipinos, challenged different administrations, adorned personalities, and caused the uprise and downfall of individuals' pride and privacy and many more. It played a big part in developing peoples' mind and shaping their ways of living. Truly, journalists played that big part in our lives. Journalism has been a great profession. Many professionals say that one must love and enjoy the profession in order to produce competent and excellent stories with less effort. It is a career that isn't easy, as what others think, but, isn't too hard at all, as hopeless people would say. In writing a story, journalists have to be careful in gathering data and research must be as accurate as possible especially in investigative reports. This one is very critical since going in the field and interrogating people can be very risky to journalists. It is also very important that integrity and responsibility be exercised always when writing stories. Being a writer, you are not just writing what you think are interesting, there is a commitment to bring to the people what they need and what is substantial to their living. Journalists should know what they are talking about and that they should be ready for any assertion that would come out. Committing into a profession like journalism is accepting all the consequences therefore has to happen. A journalist can as prominent as Che Che Lazaro who had already made a name in the field of journalism but can also be as ill-fated as the journalists who ended up being killed by notorious group or being jailed by libel and other charges. It is indeed a pleasure to see your story published and be read by thousands of people, but it is more a great honor to be distinguished and be awarded for being outstanding from the field. A journalist doesn't just earn a name but also gain a big money for being a successful one. This kind of prestige is one, any journalists would want to come true in their career, but this is just one of the consequences that might happen. Journalism isn't all safe. You can express yourself freely but some people may get your way of communicating hostile and that creates trouble. People nowadays are very critical when it comes to issues concerning almost every aspect of life. For this reason, even a word or a phrase could mean appalling especially when addressed to well-known or powerful personality, company, institution and the like. This is why even in news we can see someone sued this man/woman/company of libel, intrusion of privacy or whatever legal charges. When being charge of cases like these, good enough if the consequences are just imprisonment and compensation for damages done, if proven guilty, although these are already serious, but what if worse comes worst? What if life or even lives will be at risked? Could a journalist still pursue a career like this? Journalists, themselves, attest that threat cases are common to their job. Several journalists from the seminar I attended last July 1 at Makati City shared their experiences of the hardships they've encountered for years of being in the profession. One of them from PCIJ, Mr. Jose Torres who wrote the article "The Making of the Mindanao Mafia" told that he had received a lot threats before especially when he released the story. He said that he feared of course but he eventually got over with it. He said that some threats are merely just threats, aiming only to fright or to give a warning but after that, the issue diminishes away. Another journalist from The Manila Times by the name of David Lloreto shared his experience of receiving threats and being sued because of his article on land grips in Los Baños. He was asked to show all the important documents supporting what he wrote in the article. All the facts and figures needed and I think he was able get over with it. During the interaction session between the panel and the audience, which is mostly represented by students from different universities, media practitioners and several veteran journalists, a lot of questions posted were about the jeopardy of being a journalist. It was obvious enough that future journalists fear the fact of being near to peril when going into real world of journalism. The journalists however lighten up the faces of everyone by giving advice and encouragement to the audience. They relieved us by saying that journalism is an enjoying job and fearing threats and other dangers just hampers their capacity to write. It is true that threats are eminent, but a journalist should remain a journalist. Menace is common but it is evitable. A journalist should employ honesty, responsibility, patience, and respect in writing even when exposing sensitive, controversial stories and exposés. It is also important to be democratic and diplomatic in creating articles. Most of all a journalist should be liable for whatever end result will come out. It takes courage and conviction to pursue stories that are too dangerous and challenging to pursue. As one of the panel said, "Don't let your fear keep you from expressing yourself thus from writing your story," I believe that this is the true spirit of being a journalist --- concurring your horror to give color to your article. by: garette |
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