Letran SHS Fourth Estate joins discussion on News and Feature Writing via Dyaryologue 2021: Journalism Summit

Thea Alodia Tugade

SATURDAY, September 18, 2021 - The Union of Journalists of the University of the Philippines (UJP-UP) on its 33rd anniversary brings back the Dyaryologue 2021: Journalism Summit - A Campus Journalism Workshop for High School Students and Campus Paper Advisers. The first part of the event talks about the news and feature writing and was held via Zoom meeting and Facebook Live.

The event started with a brief introduction of the topics to be discussed and preceded by the opening remarks from Ms. Pauline Alvarez, Chairperson of UJP-UP. According to her, in today’s time, false information is getting worse by saying, “Mahirap ang sitwasyon dahil sa pandemya at krisis pangkalusugan, pang-ekonomiya, at pang-midya.” Therefore it's important to understand how journalism works, “Nawa’y patuloy tayo na magsulat, mag-ulat, at magmulat,” she concluded.

Right after the discussion began with the first speaker, Mr. Jairo Bolledo, a Multimedia Reporter of Rappler, and a Lecturer of PUP Department of Journalism. He started to focus on differentiating news writing from feature writing. "News is about providing facts while feature writing is for fun... at malaya ang feature writing."

Continuing his discussion, he explains further the concept of Feature Writing. The feature focuses more on telling stories than plain presentations; it uses descriptive words and narrates as you need to tell a story to readers. He explains the do's and don'ts in writing feature stories, that the main goal is to entertain, and also writers need to avoid highfalutin words and sentences for readers to understand the context easily, "always remember who are we focusing… and as a writer we need to normalize, humanize, and popularize."

Subsequently, he talked about rules and form in writing a feature story and what feature is for, "Sobrang malaya tayo kaya ganoon yung length at time… super powerful ng feature." In addition, he presented 3 cases as examples and as well as different formats in feature writing.

“Ang labanan ngayon, hindi na pabilisan o pagandahan ng sulat but the manner of presentation lalo na sa pandemic ngayon nau-utilize na natin ang ‘The New Media’. Maganda na nag-adjust ang journalism in a manner na nababasa na ng mga tao gamit ang Digital Media,” he added.

Finishing the discussion, the audience was given the chance to ask questions to the speaker regarding the topic. After that, the speaker was presented a certificate of appreciation.

In continuation, the second part of the event was hosted by Ms. Lia and immediately introduced the speaker. The second speaker is none other than Mr. Jervis Manahan, Broadcast Journalist from the Integrated News, and Current Affairs of ABS-CBN- who is to discuss the fundamentals of News Writing. The first portion of his discussion was entitled, "Writing for Broadcast Media 101" wherein he discussed the core foundation in news writing. To further prove his point, he stated that the core foundation is to interrogate your intention.

Furthermore, he talked about the difference between news and propaganda. According to Mr. Manahan, news is critical and tells the ugly truth, while propaganda shows what is only fitted. He also gave tips in writing for broadcast media.

The second part of his topic is entitled "Writing for Online (versus writing for traditional platforms)". He stated that in his discussion that individuals need to ask questions to themselves before writing such as, "is it interesting? Is it relevant?" And he also gave information about talk points in writing. "Determining newsworthiness is a tough test of editorial judgment,” he said.

Moreover, he talked about the importance of reading and doing research. Also, Mr. Jervis presented tips in writing to have a better logical flow and discussed fact-checking, soundbites, and putting context. "It's not about giving your voice to the voiceless. It's amplifying the voice of the unheard to those deliberately silenced,” he concluded.

Before completely ending the discussion, a question and answer was held for the audience. Ms. Noelle Meija, the Vice Chairperson for Education, presented the certificate of appreciation to Mr. Jervis Manahan. A photo opportunity was then followed right after.

To further conclude the event, Ms. Noelle gave her closing remarks to show gratitude to the organizers, attendees and two resource speakers as they all actively participated in the entire duration of the event.

The second part of Dyaryologue:A Journalism Summit will take place on September 25,2021 following discussion on Sports Writing and Science and Health Writing and is still live via UJP UP Diliman’s Official Facebook Page.

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