“Journalism isn’t about how smart you are. It’s not about where you’re from. It’s not about who you know or how clever your questions are. And thank God for that. It’s about your ability to embrace change and uncertainty. It’s about being fearless personally and professionally.” –Mary Pilon
I almost didn’t notice 2018 was my 30th year as a community journalist. Over the years, I have learned a few critical realities.
No one gets rich
No Filipino community journalist who stuck to the profession became rich. There is no money in journalism; it is passion and inner satisfaction that drives us to write (and sometimes act as “chief problem solver of the universe”).
Fame is good but journalists also need to each three square meals a day, raise a family, and live with dignity.
Certain unhealthy relationships
A principled journalist should not maintain close relations with politicians, members of the military, or police officers.
Every so often, politicians or those in uniform commit anomalous acts. If the culprit is a “friend,” that makes an uncomfortable situation for the journalist.
The risk of payola
It is risky if one attempts (even secretly) to accept payola, when one receives payment to broadcast or publish a certain item.
It is highly deplorable and unethical – sometimes referred to as “press-titution.”
Eventually, someone will reveal everything.
Columnists do not apply
A columnist does not apply for the job, they are invited.
In 1990, then-Western Visayas Daily Times Editor-in-Chief Manuel Mejorada rejected former Iloilo City government information officer Eldrid Antiquera’s application to write as a columnist.
Mejorada said nobody can take shortcuts to becoming a columnist; they must prove their worth and establish a name within the community.
The information officer was having troubles with then-Iloilo City Mayor Rodolfo Ganzon and was always publicly reprimanded. He was probably trying to “get out of the kitchen.”
Antiquera went on to become a lawyer and was later elected to the Iloilo City Council.
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I began writing for the News Express, a weekly paper in Iloilo City, in May 1988. It was the paper’s inaugural year and the late Ben Palma was the paper’s first “editor,” but our de facto editors were Agnes Españo and Pet Melliza, who is now a lawyer.
In addition, current publisher for Journal Visayas Giovannie Va-ay was our circulation manager.
From the News Express, I briefly wrote for the now-defunct Western Visayas Daily Times in 1993.
The following year, I received an invitation from former Iloilo airport concessionaire Bernie Miaque to write for the Daily Informer, which was edited by the late Ivan Suansing, my former College Editors Guild of the Philippines-Reform Movement colleague.
After two years, Suansing and I left the Daily Informer and were handpicked to handle editorials for Sun.Star Iloilo Daily. He later moved to Cebu with his family to edit Cebu Daily, a then-new publication rivaling Sun.Star Cebu.
I wanted to go with him but it would mean permanent relocation. I stayed behind to edit Sun Star Iloilo Daily until December 1999, the year I was hit with 38 counts of libel (a situation discussed in a previous column and, as mentioned in the aforementioned article, a piece on the issue is forthcoming).
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In 2000, I established my own bi-monthly newspaper, Iloilo Today-The New Millennium.
By 2004, Makinaugalingon Printing Press owner Rosendo ‘Sendong’ Mejica tasked broadcast journalist Erly Garcia with offering me a job at Iloilo Today, a bi-weekly publication. However, I apologized to the both of them as I could not commit to full-time work due to scheduling. That same year, Miaque tried to convince me to edit for the Daily Informer but I declined, giving the same excuse I provided the first offer.
Miaque extended a compromise: I could travel anytime to fulfill certain obligations and then-associate editor Lydia Pendon would act as editor in my absence.
Daily Informer was the last daily newspaper I edited. I stayed until 2008, the year the paper “died a natural death” after the court ordered Miaque’s property at the old Iloilo airport demolished.
Our editorial office was also obliterated./WDJ