Elevate: Student Journalism Workshop goes Online for its 9th Installment

Eldrin Steven Dones & Prince Robel Tecson

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24 — Student-Journalists from Letran SHS Fourth Estate attend the UP Radio Circle’s 9th installment of Elevate: Student Journalism Workshop with a theme, “Finding Identity Amid Media Plurality.” The first part of the three-saturdays of the webinar series talked about “Jump Starting your Career in Journalism.” The event goes virtually this year due to the ongoing pandemic.

The Journalism webinar began with the discussion of the topic, “Writing and Reporting Traffic and Police”, a session led by Mr. Marc Jayson Cayabyab, a Journalist from the Philippine Star. Mr. Cayabyab talked through the ideas that the journalist should keep in mind when reporting breaking news such as having the right blend of speed and accuracy and breaking the most important story. Furthermore, he emphasized the importance of keeping up with the story as it develops in writing and reporting.

After, the event then proceeded to its second session spearheaded by Mr. Jimmy Domingo, a Freelance Visual Journalist and a Teacher at De La Salle University and University of the Philippines - Diliman, the discussion’s focal point was Photojournalism in the Digital Media and how it plays a role in bringing life to the story. Mr. Domingo pointed out the differences in today’s photojournalism compared back then. Additionally, numerous platforms that photojournalists could use to deliver news were mentioned as well. He also pointed out that no story is worth dying for and one should always think about his or her safety when covering and delivering news. As the session ends, He reminded everyone to ensure that the news they report possesses photographic truth, is transparent in caption, and no fake images were included.

Moving forward, the next speaker, Mr. Erwin Colcol, a reporter from GMA News Online highlighted the importance of Political Reporting in the field of Journalism. According to Mr. Erwin, news stories regarding politics become the first draft of history and it is a privilege to be able to write such stories. He also pointed out that Political Reports may seem messy and long but what matters is the content and the reporter should take note of how to make sense out of these minor difficulties. Since the government concerns everybody, these types of news stories help to inform the public and keep them opinionated about the status of the country.

More so, Mr. Erwin also listed down some tips to consider in making Political reports impactful. Tips such as producing a network of sources, asking questions when in doubt, staying on the lookout for news affairs, and being aware of both sides of the story, which is the most important, can contribute greatly to writing informative reports.

To top it all off, the last speaker, Ms. Pia Ranada, a Multimedia reporter from Rappler facilitated her discussion on the diversity of Multimedia Reporting and storytelling through various platforms. As technology slowly innovated in the past years, writing stories also developed new methods mainly anchored in the field of Multimedia. Moreover, she mentioned several ways on writing reports in News forms such as Breaking News, Feature Articles, Investigative reports, Literary journals, Explainer, and Listicle platforms and also Media platforms such as Text articles, Photos, Videos or Animation, Live videos, Social Media, and Podcasts that make up the latest trends.

Meanwhile, Ms. Pia also talked about the organization in a Newsroom including the structure of journalists, the tools of trade used in reporting such as smartphones, tripods, earphones, laptops, microphones, and video cameras. Additionally, she discusses the pros and cons of writing in multimedia platforms and what makes these types of reports different from others. After, she then elaborated the significance of Data Journalism, mentioning that it is not just about graphics and it requires special tools for analysis and visualization.

Lastly, she pointed out some tips for aspiring Multimedia reporters mainly about choosing the right newsroom, basic tenets, multitasking, exploring various multimedia outputs, and pursuing what kind of Journalism and passion project you wish to do.

Elevate: Student Journalism Workshop will further discuss topics on Breaking Big in Broadcasting and Disrupting Media in Landscape on its last two parts which will be held on October 31st and November 7th. The event will still continuously be aired via FB Live Stream thru Elevate: Student Journalism Workshop facebook page.