Added burden

Written on 7:47 PM by isko b. doo

I wonder why the number of interns have been dwindling?

Before we used to get as many as five interns for training at the same time. Now, we hardly get one. Personally, I prefer it that way because it's not easy to break a student on the realities of working as a journalist on the field and that job falls on me, being the lowest ranked supervisor on the team.

The hardest part I think is how to sustain student interest in print journalism because it certainly lacked the appeal and luster of being seen on TV or heard on radio. And make no mistake about it, it's harder to get your copy published in print because it is more demanding when it comes to grammar, accuracy, and accountability.

The professional part of me, however, wishes there were more students who show interest in pursuing a career in journalism. It is a thankless job, especially more so for community journalists who, ironically, are constantly preyed upon by unscrupulous publishers and broadcast station owners. I think we have one of the highest ratios in terms of labor violations than any other industry: that includes non-payment of wages or benefits, long hours, overtime pay, labor contracting, etc.

Exactly how do you hope to attract new graduates to try their hand in journalism without offering a competitive salary package? And because it is difficult, it would be a better investment for the company to take care of employees because pride is the only thing that prevents writers and editors from going the route of the call center industry, where the dearth of competent agents gave rise to pirating employees from rival companies.

This rivalry thing is so ingrained in us that we wouldn't want to get caught dead working for a rival company that has been the subject of constant ribbing and criticizing during weekly meetings. Right now, however, pride is a luxury that's quickly waning by the minute. An additional P2,000 to your present salary sounds very appetizing especially when your monthly bills mount or your family expands.

The growing popularity of independent films also changed the whole landscape. More and more students now want to become filmmakers and schools have been prodding them even if the teachers do not posses the filmmaking background to impart knowledge while the equipment and machine leave much to be desired. With all those odds, I reckon the chances of success for a budding filmmaker to break the mainstream, where the moolah is, is one in a hundred thousand.

Now I'm not saying the trend is a bad thing, but it does impact on the number of students who want to be print journalists. That burden, however, is on us. As if my monthly bills are not a burden enough, tsk.

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Entitlement

Written on 11:02 PM by isko b. doo

Communist rebels finally released 1st Lt. Vicente Cammayo on Tuesday after nearly two months in captivity when he went missing (the military version said he was abducted; the New People's Army claimed he surrendered) in Monkayo, Compostela Valley on November 7 last year.

But I'm not going to write an entry about the circumstances behind his release so for a full report, read here. However, there were some observations that warranted this entry.

We had a correspondent cover the event and it was an interesting experience for him. The coverage was no problem since we had full confidence on his capacity to write in intelligible form whatever transpired during the turnover of the captive soldier from the hands of the NPA, to the International Committee of the Red Cross and finally, to government authorities.

At the Eastern Mindanao Command headquarters, Cammayo was wheeled towards the waiting throng of journalists, government officials, military officers and hangers-on for the ministerial press conference.

During the brief interchange, a military official distributed copies of the NPA statement and being wet behind the ears and because nobody knew him from Adam, our writer was naturally excluded. When he asked for a copy from the writer of a rival paper, he got snubbed instead.

There's something to be said about entitlement. Our correspondent is certainly not entitled any favors from a rival writer. It's their nature to compete and to out-scoop each other. In the same vein, the public is entitled to whatever information that NPA statement might contain. I could not blame the writer for his actions and in the same vein I also could not chide the newbie for his reaction. These are the kind of things he will learn along the way.

We all go through these initiations and there's a good side to that: whatever respect you get later, you are sure you earned it. I just hoped things like these should be taught in schools to fully prepare would-be journalists for what should be expected once they are thrown into the fire, so to speak but how can you expect students to learn when the teachers have not burned a single candle to learn their craft outside of classroom walls? Oh well, c'est la vie.

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