Lou-Anne Mae Rondina on what makes the hustle worth it

CEBU, Philippines — The way she shares her hopes and insights, Best Field Reporter at the 2019 Gandingan Awards, Lou-anne Mae Rondina, perfectly proves how deserving she is of her recent achievement.

Presented by the UP Community Broadcasters’ Society Inc., this is Lou-Anne’s second consecutive Best Field Reporter win, and things just got sweeter the second time since she bested nominees from all over the country versus last year where she was only pitted against fellow regional reporters.

“I feel extremely honored and earnestly grateful because I’m pretty sure that every other nominee for this award was as capable if not more of winning this award,” the “Balitang Bisdak” reporter said in an interview with The FREEMAN.

The 38-year-old news correspondent at GMA Network Inc. shares the success with her cameramen Marlon Melgazo, Renante Quinones and Jun Solon. Apart from the “Balitang Bisdak” news team and her family, she extends the recognition to the four children she had interviewed for her stories.

Lou-anne said she must have won the award because their three entries fit well the Gandingan theme of “Midya at Bayan: Malaya. Mulat. Matapang.” The way their stories rouse people to action is the kind of butterfly effect that Lou-Anne finds amazing in her line of work.

“The three stories not only informed the public but it provoked immediate response from the local government units,” she said. “For instance, the story about a little boy from Talisay City who suffered from Hirschsprung disease [a condition that affects the large intestine and causes problems with passing stool]…Because of poverty and reluctance of the parents to bring their son back to the hospital, the little boy’s large intestines were literally hanging. The family took advantage of the situation to beg on the streets. Through our story, the LGU of Talisay, through the City Social Welfare and Development Office, brought the child to the hospital and he underwent a series of surgical operations until he was completely healed.”

To excel, passion has to be present, said Lou-Anne. She was amazed with television newscasters as a child and pursued the dream of becoming one by watching national and international newscasts.

Lou-Anne took up Mass Communications, first in Silliman University in Dumaguete. She earned her degree from St. Theresa’s College in 2002. After graduation, TV networks then didn’t have vacancies yet.

In 2005, while working as an ESL teacher, Lou-Anne heard the familiar voice of Bobby Nalzaro announcing a call for reporters over the radio. She wasted no time and handed in her résumé the very next day.

After an audition, an exam, and an interview or two, Lou-Anne made it on the third and last batch of trainees and was well on her way to fulfill a life-long dream.

Since then, she’s been on the field witnessing how conflict, crime, calamities and festivities unfold throughout the years.

“I am more inclined to doing stories on the plight of the poor, and that’s how I’d like to be remembered,” shared Lou-anne, saying that it was her mother, who she considers her greatest role model, who instilled empathy in her.

“As a child, she taught me to care for the less fortunate in every way that I can. Now as a media practitioner, I have the privilege to not only protect public interest but provoke immediate response from the government.”

While her recent Gandingan win made her appreciate her job even more, Lou-Anne, who comes across people from all walks of life on the daily, said that it is always the opportunities of lending a hand that make the media grind fulfilling.

Others often mistake media practitioners as having all the answers, and that bit is what Lou-Anne personally finds challenging as a reporter. Which is why she makes it a point to lead those who ask for help to the right offices who have the resources to help.

“Being a TV reporter is indeed very challenging, but when you meet ordinary people coming up to you, expressing their gratitude because the story you made helped them access previously inaccessible offices, or helped them alleviate their situation, it makes the hustle worth it.”

On field, she said one needs patience and perseverance. She added that any aspiring journalist should remember that good stories are often difficult to gather, and that putting it up is another monster altogether.

“Creating a good story means finding and verifying important and interesting information in a way that engages audiences. The best stories are more complete and more comprehensive. They contain more verified information from more sources. How a story is told is also important especially topics which the audience feels relevant or significant.”

Lou-Anne believes that mainstream media still has the advantage when it comes to verifying information. Despite the increase in misleading online content that resemble news but aren’t, she said it is mainstream media that religiously verifies information with sources as part of the protocol. This daily commitment to credibility and service is what made Lou-anne stay as a Kapuso for over a decade now.

“Journalism is a profession and a craft. Journalists who have a strong organization behind them can count on a full range of support in the service of their craft. The credibility of journalists rests on the assumption that they have no other interest that will conflict with this mission.”

Like any craft, a certain skill set is needed. You have to learn how to write, how to approach people, to ask the right questions. But for every news organization and every journalist, there is no better PR like credibility. And so, despite the awards and recognition, it is credibility and integrity that marks a journalist.

“I still believe that the most important quality every journalist should have is to be trustworthy,” she said. “Journalists are unelected yet we are called to serve the public at large and the community expects us to adhere to higher standards of conduct than ordinary people.”