Campus Journalism

1. Based on your observation, under the principles of journalism, what do you

think are the common pitfalls of today’s journalists? Substantiate your answers.

1) Truth and Accuracy

The truth is essential. Believing what is not true is likely to derail people's
plans and even endanger their lives. Telling lies may result in legal and
social consequences. Even in journalism, accuracy is a fundamental norm
in journalism and is central to the practice of journalism. Journalist must
keep in their mind that they are presenting information to the public
therefore they must not lie and strive on giving people unsure and
inaccurate information.

Excellent example of this was the recent Philippine election where

disinformation was very rampant and most people tend to accept a crude
detail of lies without actually identifying their sources. As a journalist, one
of their job is to fight disinformation. They have to let the people be aware
of the truth and encourage them to be skeptical when it comes to reading
crude details everywhere, especially on social media.

2) Fairness and Impartially

It is critical for journalists to understand the value of journalistic

objectivity. Journalists must maintain objectivity in journalism and must
present the facts regardless of whether they disagree or agree with those
facts. Objective reporting is intended to present issues and events in a
neutral and unbiased manner, regardless of the writer's personal beliefs or
opinions. It is because this aims to help the audience form their own
opinions about a story by providing only the facts and allowing the public
to understand them on their own.

One of the controversial issue that can be a great example of this subject
was the recent issue about the most known Philippine online news
website called ‘Rappler.’

The public and the Philippines authorities have again ordered the
shutdown of an investigative news site founded by Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Maria Ressa. Why? It is because the public think that this news
website is too biased and report information unfairly, which in fact
violates the importance of the Journalistic objectivity where journalist are
 intended only to present and report issue and events in a neutral and
unbiased manner.

2. In becoming a campus journalist, which do you think among the features are
your strengths? Which among features do you require improvement? Elaborate
your answers by citing a real-life scenario of yours.

Strengths:
Thorough Knowledge

When working as a journalist, it is critical to be knowledgeable enough to

write your own news. To have a credible report, you must be more
educated on the actual concept and context of the specific issue.

Even I, who has never been a member of any journalism organization, has
always been aware that whether a journalist or not, this feature is
necessary. We are all observers who become perplexed by what we see
around us. We study them in order to impart the knowledge with the
people around us.

Investigative Skills

Humans are wired to be skeptical of everything, which is why journalists

have an innate ability to analyze what they are told and reconcile it with
what they know. As a student who conducts research, I completely agree
that human nature is skeptical. We have a tendency to doubt everything
we see and experience. For instances, as a future teacher, I am fully aware
that when I do become a teacher, I will be held accountable for my
students' behavior. I need to start investigating and discover why a
specific student was acting in this manner. Or perhaps a student is having
difficulty reading comfortably because they are dyslexic? When I finally
entered the field, those were all mine to discover.

Persistence

We all have ambitions in life but in order to achieve them we need to

strive even more and be persistence enough. Challenges is part of our life,
but being persistence gives you vital experience. When you're persistent,
you learn that each failure gives you another opportunity to learn. With
each failure, you will become more resilient. You will also learn how you
can overcome any challenges. That is why journalists are considered
 persistence. If they want to know certain thing, they would go for it just to
feed us information that we needed.

Just like journalists, I can also consider myself persistence because if not, I
would not be here in my 3rd year of college. I was persistence enough
from the start even though sometimes situations overwhelm me a lot and
tell me to just give up.

Professionalism and Confidence

Journalists are considered as professionals because they know what they

are doing. They are self-assured enough to provide the information we
required and acknowledge how to accept criticism. Just like us students,
we are subjected to criticism for our work because we still have areas in
that we need to optimize in order to be successful in our chosen field.

Weaknesses: (Areas that I need to improve)

A Way With Word

One of the first things you will learn in journalism is the importance of
telling an effective story. They are necessary for communication and have
the ability to engage an audience like nothing else. That is why journalists
must provide the public with accurate information rather than just some
crude details. They always have a way of constructing words they want to
report, and evidently, this is an area where I need to improve and focus.
Even though I am an English major, there are still some instances where I
struggle to write grammatically correct sentences and express what I truly
want to say. Even writing a poem frustrates me to the point where I
wonder why I find it so difficult to express myself in writing.

Effective Communication Skills

As an introvert, I find it difficult to communicate and begin to wonder

why I chose this field knowing that I am an introvert who easily becomes
shy and despises public speaking. But why not put yourself to the test?
Teaching requires you to be more sociable in order to communicate
effectively with the people around you, particularly your students. That is
why journalists have the ability to communicate effectively. As this is my
area of weakness, I am desperately working hard to improve it so that
when I finally enter the teaching field, I can also teach my students
effectively, because good communication leads to effective teaching.
3. Some Crucial Issues in journalism the Philippines

 Red-Tagging of Journalists, Organizations and Activists

Red-tagging, also referred to as red-baiting, has been used in the Philippines for
decades in the government's anti-communist New People's Army (NPA)
campaign, which began in 1969. Counterinsurgency efforts by the government
include publicly accusing activists, journalists, politicians, and others, as well as
their organizations, of being directly involved in fighting or supporting the NPA.
The Philippine military has long been accused of extrajudicial killings and
torture of alleged communists.

“These people have been red-tagged. Being red-tagged in the Philippines means the
government is accusing you of being a New People’s Army fighter or a supporter of the
communist insurgency. The red-tagging is usually done through social media posts or
being called out in government news releases or press conferences. The United Nations
Human Rights Council and other governments should denounce this tactic and put
pressure on the Philippine government to stop red-tagging. In addition, the Philippine
government should investigate incidents of red-tagging that have led to killings and hold
the perpetrators accountable.

This practice has become so widespread that protests are taking place against it. Red-
tagging is part of the government’s counterinsurgency campaign but by shutting down
critical voices of activists, human rights defenders, and journalists it is shrinking
democratic space in the Philippines.”

(Carlos Conde, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH)

Link: https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/video/2021/12/17/philippines-
activists-journalists-red-tagged

 Killings of Journalist

Another journalist has been killed in the Philippines, the 22nd during Rodrigo
Duterte's presidency.

According to reports, Jesus Malabanan was watching TV in his Calbayog home

when gunmen barged in and shot him in the head. Malabanan, 58, worked as a
journalist for Bandera, The Manila Times, and The Manila Standard. He also
contributed to Reuters' Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting on Duterte's "drug war."

Link: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/10/killing-journalist-criminal-libel-
philippines
 Attacks and harassment: Women journalists in the Philippines on the cost of
truth-telling

Six women share how holding the powerful to account has become a dangerous
calling for journalists in the Philippines.

According to Varona, the press continues to report despite the attacks because
the press is determined to be free. She claims she has no choice but to fight. After
Duterte was elected president, the attacks on Davila continued. She is
occasionally trolled online for her probing questions about

"The issue of press freedom is an issue for all Filipinos," Davila says, adding that
trolling online has caused people to lose "integrity of thought." Integrity of
thought is lost when we doubt ourselves due to the deluge of disinformation on
Facebook, she adds.

Link: https://headtopics.com/ph/attacks-and-harassment-women-journalists-
in-the-philippines-on-the-cost-of-truth-telling-17695611

 Media Blackout

On September 28, 1972, Marcos issued Letter of Instruction No. 1, authorizing the
military to seize assets from major media outlets such as the ABS-CBN network,
Channel 5, and various radio stations throughout the country. This occurred
within the first week of his declaring martial law.

The Letter of Instruction cited the involvement of these media outlets with the
Communist movement as justification for this mass sequestration of media
assets. Specifically, Marcos accused the mainstream media of undermining the
administration by disseminating information that exposed its flaws in order to
fan the flames of the Communist movement.

In the Letter, Marcos states that these media outlets were:

“engaged in subversive activities against the Government . . . in the broadcast and

dissemination of subversive materials and of deliberately slanted and overly exaggerated
news stories and commentaries as well as false, vile, foul and scurrilous statements and
utterances, clearly well-conceived, intended and calculated to malign and discredit the
duly constituted authorities, and thereby promote the agitational propaganda campaign,
conspiratorial activities and illegal ends of the Communist Party of the Philippines . . .”

Link: https://martiallawmuseum.ph/magaral/breaking-the-news-silencing-the-
media-under-martial-law/