Accidental journalists

Journalism is a profession that is as complicated as the events and issues a practitioner is tackling or writing about. Journalists fight for information and the harshness of the process and the frustrations that go with it only inured them to this kind of career.

The usual perception of journalists is that they are graduates of Journalism or Mass Communications but mind you, there are a number of journalists now who finished other courses or got into the job through the proverbial back door.

Accidents, like miracles, do happen of course and there are media practitioners who may be called accidental journalists.

There's this man who once dreamed of becoming a visual artist, so he studied and finished Fine Arts. This did not make his life easier however so he ventured in agriculture. It, too, failed. He thought of his family and the prospect of hunger made him shiver.

"Wa na silay makaon. (They have nothing to eat)," he recalls how he was pushed to look for other jobs. One day, he stumbled into this job -a news reporter- and he went for it anyway.

His first written article gave his editor a headache but it was an option against making his family hungry. This accidental journalist is Oscar Pineda, now a senior staff reporter of Sunstar Daily.

Then there's staff reporter Cristina Birondo, of The FREEMAN. She's a political science graduate who, feeling burnt-out from studies, decided to work first before going into law. She applied for a clerical job but The FREEMAN editor then, upon learning she could write, took her in as a reporter.

Nursing graduate Orlando Cajegas used to hang out in the newsroom, "observing the people there and at the same time impressing those with my contributions to the paper before my editor noticed my skills." He is now a staff writer of Sunstar Cebu.

Here's another man. He was a Liberal Arts student when the challenge of campus journalism beckoned him. He was confident he could write but it never dawned on him that it was the start of his remarkable career as a professional journalist.

His skills impressed the owner of a daily paper where he was first hired as one of its reporters. After almost two decades he rose from the ranks and Jerry Tundag is now the editor-in-chief of The FREEMAN.

Competition

Competition in the industry made it hard for non-journalism graduates to get job as a journalist, and it's even harder to survive to be in it for years.

What could have pushed these accidental journalists to stay on the job? The urge to write perhaps? Because it could never be the pay, which is not that attractive anyway.

For Pineda, being a Fine Arts graduate gave him an edge as a writer because visualization is a part of the job. Interviewing a source is just like watching a movie where you try to imagine what the source may be uttering, he says.

Noel Villaflor, chief copy editor of Sunstar Daily, found out that taking up advertising arts is useful, especially for lay outing, graphics and page design.

No regrets

Just like their peers, salary and the indefinite long hours of work are the major complaints, although these did not make them decide to call it quits. They have come to accept and love their craft, including the pressures that go with it.

"I'm sure I've made the right decision. No profession is perfect," Villaflor says.

"Quitting never crossed my mind. I encounter discouragement. I am human," Cajegas says but adds, "Insecurity is all but natural. I keep it to myself. I love what I'm doing and that's it."

Pineda, for his part, says "I expect more discouraging situations in the sense that I'll end up in the ICU already. I have to expect the worst in this kind of job so I may grow as an effective journalist. But I'm too busy to be insecure."

"There's no way I'm giving up journalism just because of discouragement. But if I win lotto, then probably I'll be giving up a part of it. I don't know exactly," Tundag says.

"Sometimes, I think about quitting but then again I have to stay," Birondo adds. "This is better than being a lawyer."

Passion

These journalists know they have what it takes to be a journalist. They have the passion, something that made them last this long.

"Without passion, whether it's for your job or for something else, you get distracted. You begin to feel the pressures and in the end, you don't make enough," Tundag points out. "I love the excitement here in journalism. I'm happy more than just contented."

Cajegas says he just took up nursing just to fulfill his father's wishes but in his heart he was always for writing.

Pineda ends up as a journalist but how about his dream? Well, he says there are things a man has to give up because they are beyond our control. Still, he's enjoying how things turned out.

For these journalists, they may not have the school training for the profession but they possess the passion and love for the job. And they have evolved into effective journalists, who are very proud they met such accident in the course of looking for a living. - Jessica S. Losorata