Civic Journalism 101

Last August 19th, columnists from The FREEMAN had a lunch meeting to discuss ways to improve the quality of writing, which means elevating our already high standards of journalism. One suggestion was the adoption of Civic Journalism as espoused by the Philippine Press Institute (PPI), which from their website, suggests that a community newspaper “Should be a catalyst for community action, whether it be a discussion of issues, a decision for change, or an expression of public sentiment. The content of the newspaper covers issues and concerns relevant to the community’s life and aspirations.”

Come to think of it… this is something that we in The FREEMAN have already been doing, especially columnists who discuss relevant topics ranging from such controversial issues like the Reproductive Health Bill (RH), environmental issues, especially when we engage the many self-confessed environmentalists or NGOs who are demanding to stop coal-fired plants and move to renewable sources like solar or wind, which are power sources that are highly unreliable and more expensive on a per kilowatt hour cost. But we know the truth behind many of these NGOs. They are not really pushing to help our environment, but help themselves through more funds when their advocacies are printed in our newspapers.

Another PPI suggestion says, “Content of the newspaper goes beyond providing news and information. It should also inspire readers to “get involved, get engaged and take ownership of problems” thus transforming readers from spectators into participants.” This is exactly what we’ve been doing for so many years when we write articles about traffic… from ill-disciplined drivers, bad or nonexistent traffic management and yes, the question of whether flyovers are necessary or not? This type of journalism is not new to The FREEMAN.

We’ve written so many articles on this more so that there are new concerned players in this issue who insist that the flyovers were constructed that was not part of any master plan. It is more than obvious to us that, there are many people out there who don’t even know that Cebu already had a master plan, which unfortunately is implemented on a snail’s pace.

So in a nutshell, let me speak in behalf of The FREEMAN… that we as a newspaper have been doing Civic Journalism for a long time now. Now whether we would win awards from the PPI largely depends on who are the people behind the awards committee. Many of these people have their own biases, who more often than not favor certain “favorites.” Oh well, they’re just as human as you and me.

Speaking of awards, allow me to congratulate my Spiritual Adviser and fellow columnist Fr. Roy Cimagala who won for the 3rd time in the 15th Cebu Archdiocesan Mass Media Awards (CAMMA) as “Best Columnist.” There is no doubt that Fr. Roy deserves this award, after all, being an Opus Dei priest, he, like St. Jose Maria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, does ordinary things extraordinarily; which is why Fr. Roy is such an excellent writer and we’re glad he’s with us in The FREEMAN.

However, allow me to tell you my CAMMA story, even at the risk of sounding like a sour grape.I’ve been known for shooting straight and this is as straight a shot as you can get! When the CAMMA Awards began, for the first three years, I was a constant nominee for Best Columnist award. But the honor was given to my good friend, SunStar Daily’s Godofredo “Godo” Roperos, who won it for three straight years. At that time, Godo was already a veteran journalist and yes, we always bow down to our elders who were very much ahead of us in the business of journalism.

However, one of the jurors for the awards was a friend of mine who told me that I could have easily won the awards, except that I was too “highly-opinionated”! That statement caught me by surprise that the jurors (at that time) could not distinguish the difference between a newspaper reporter and an opinion writer who, like it or not, has to be “highly-opinionated.” In the end, I told my friend that we columnists write on the most varied topics, but what the jurors are telling the other columnists is, you should write like Godo Roperos to win the CAMMA awards.

Because of that revelation, I told my editor then not to include my name in the CAMMA Awards. But in 2005, my TV Talkshow, “Straight from the Sky” won the CAMMA Awards for “Best Talkshow.” When I learned of this, I did not go to accept the award, rather it was my Director Ella de Leon who accepted it for SkyCable, after all, the show is not entirely mine alone, I have a full crew behind me and they deserve credit for their tireless work.

But in truth, I didn’t really like to accept that award simply because we were already the longest TV talk show in town with no clear competition even from the major TV networks. However, what we give our TV viewers and my readers are shows and columns aimed not to win awards, but to tell them the truth on the topics we talk or write about. That’s why we write!

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