Karmina Constantino Torres: How to make it to the news
In May 2023, journalist Karmina “KC” Constantino-Torres will be marking her 27th year in the broadcast industry. A Film and Audio Visual Communication graduate from the University of the Philippines, Karmina followed her mom’s advice to send her resume to the SkyNews Headquarters simply because it was close to their house.
On her first day at work, she was offered to be a reporter by then news manager David Celdran, but she politely refused the position. Instead, she requested to start as production assistant because she wanted to learn more and work her way up. She did everything, from collating scripts, to editing closing credits and music videos, to floor directing, operating the prompter, writing special reports, producing and, yes, even making coffee.
After a year, Karmina’s big break came when Luz Rimban, executive producer then for the midday newscast of SkyNews, asked her to fill in for an anchor who was absent. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Just recently, the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines awarded her with the Marshall McLuhan Fellowship for excellence in Journalism for her exemplary work. When asked who inspires her, Karmina’s reply was “My children and our country inspire me. In no particular order, I look up to the following, whom I consider my mentors: Ging Reyes, Tina Monzon-Palma, CheChe Lazaro, Ces Drilon, Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, Ed Lingao, David Celdran, Luz Rimban. They didn’t take me under their wings but by example, by doing their duty, they showed me how journalism should be done.”
She continues, “Ten years from now, in whatever capacity, I will still be standing up for our country and her people.”
Karmina tells us 10 lessons she learned from the newsroom.
1. Know yourself. This business can consume you and spit you out barely recognizable, but if you stay true to who you are and the values you hold dear, you will not go astray.
2. Know your purpose. Knowing your purpose drowns out the noise the newsroom can bring. The gnawing thought that you are in an arena of a never-ending rat race is enough to send anyone into a mind-numbing frenzy. Pause and ask yourself these questions: Why are you here? Why do you want to tell these stories? Why is it important to ask those questions? Then let the answers to these questions serve as your compass as you find your footing in the newsroom.
3. Find a mentor. You cannot go it alone. Seek those who embody your ideals and learn from them. Observe them, how they see a story and strip it apart, how they weave it back together and finally tell it as it should be told. Get to know their ethics and principles and strive to have the same.
4. Do the work. Show up and do the work, day in and day out. Study — the issues, the subjects, the angles, your questions. You are only as good as your last broadcast, your last published piece, so commit to do better the next time you air, the next time you write. You will make mistakes but mistakes are there to learn from so don’t be afraid of them. Face them head on and glean from them.
5. Find your tribe. Real talk: the newsroom can be filled with cunning people. So surround yourself with those who have the same values and beliefs as yours, whose principles are not divergent from yours, those who will stand up for you and your cause, and for whom you would do the same.
6. There is life beyond the newsroom. Love your work but don’t let it define you.
7. Do you. Be true to who you are as you build your own brand of storytelling.
8. Be financially independent. Not being financially beholden to anyone empowers you to be free — to ask questions, to pursue a story. So that when those questions prove to be too probing, and those stories too telling that you end up without a job, financial independence allows you to walk away with your principles intact.
9. For our country, our people, always. A journalist’s role in keeping democracy alive is massive. We are purveyors of truth, of correct information so that the public can freely make decisions for themselves, their loved ones, their community. There shouldn’t be any other reason for being in the newsroom but love for country and its people. Because if there’s a motive other than that then you’re in the wrong business.
10. Be brave, be free. Press freedom will always be under attack and the powerful will always find a way. So for those precious minutes that you are on air, probing and seeking the truth, or for that moment in the dead of night when we are putting pen to paper or pounding away on the keyboard writing the story, that interview, that next social media post — be at your freest. Be at your bravest. Our country deserves no less.
(We welcome your suggestions and comments. Please e-mail me at [email protected]. Follow me on Instagram @monsromulo.)
- Latest
