N.B. – A US-based journalism professor is doing a study on journalism education in the Philippines. Allow me to share with you my answers to some of his questions.
What do you think should be the ideal practice of journalism?
The practice of journalism should adhere to the highest professional and ethical standards of the profession.
What are the obstacles you experience with regard to teaching what you think is the ideal form of journalism practice?
News media are perceived mainly as business enterprises and the shaping of public opinion consequently becomes profit-oriented. Only a few professors have a clear grasp of the dichotomy of the mainstream and alternative media existing in today’s society. Most of the time, current alternative media are dismissed as pseudo-journalism or worse, mere propaganda of certain interest groups.
What is the role and duty of the journalist with regard to bringing about social change and development?
The shaping of public opinion is within the purview of effecting social change. There is therefore an inherent acknowledgment of problems besetting society, an analysis of which may vary depending on the journalist’s convictions.
With what social or economic class should journalists most empathize with in their professional work?
I would like to think that the natural bias is towards the marginalized sectors of society for the simple reason that they are more in need of support in terms of media coverage. If a journalist believes that social inequity and inequality deprive poor people, for example, from having access to basic services, then it follows that he or she should give them access to the media for proper redress of grievances, mindful of the fact that the other side should also be given necessary space and airtime.
What economic class is most important to bringing about social change and development?
I think the marginalized sectors of society should benefit from any form of social change, whether in the terms of administration (people), government (structure), or mode of production.
What is your view of the obligation of journalists for instigating and sustaining social change and development?
Journalists practice the profession for a simple reason: They want to engage in truth-telling through their journalistic outputs. The information media organizations provide set the agenda not only for policy-making but also mass actions.
What journalistic skills are best learned in a university or college setting?
Analytical, writing and other related skills can be taught at universities or colleges but they have to be complemented by actual practice whether through campus journalism or part-time work in media organizations. Students could also benefit greatly if professors are practicing journalists themselves because they can better share relevant work experience. This is the reason I continue to be a journalist even if I already have full-time work in the university.
What is the importance of attending a good university or college to learn journalistic skills?
Depending on the school and the professors handling the courses, the academic environment can provide the necessary skills, knowledge and theoretical grounding with regard to journalism. But as mentioned before, actual practice is necessary and it should not be confined to classroom workshops or writing laboratories. Students should be required to do field work, and must have enough initiative to work, even if part-time, for media organizations even if these are not class requirements.
What is the the best type of educational model for developing skilled journalists?
Even at the risk of being biased, the liberal education at the University of the Philippines (UP) provides an atmosphere conducive for teaching journalism and other disciplines. Students are shaped to become independent thinkers and their quest for knowledge tends to go beyond the four walls of the classroom, so to speak.
What are your suggestions for improving journalism education in the Philippines?
It should take on a multi-media orientation where students are exposed to the different forms of mass media, not just print. Professors should be hired not on the basis of their academic credentials but relevant work experience. They should also be encouraged to practice the profession so that they could continue to provide relevant education to students.
What is your opinion of alternative journalism models such as Civic Journalism, Development Journalism or other models of participatory/interventionist journalism?
In the final analysis, there is only one set of standards in the practice of journalism. The so-called journalistic permutations exist to either reaffirm adherence to such standards (e.g., Peace Journalism, Advocacy Journalism), promote a particular specialization, lifestyle or cause (e.g., Online Journalism, Environmental Journalism) or to distort and use the tenets of journalism to serve one’s purpose (e.g., Marcos-style development journalism). I think that the best way for students to appreciate the different permutations or models is to analyze the evolution of journalism into a profit-oriented enterprise. This has, after all, resulted in the erosion or misinterpretation of professional and ethical standards which are supposed to be easily understandable and implementable.