The Journalism program of the College of Mass Communication is the oldest in the college, having been transferred from the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of English to the Institute of Mass Communication when it was founded in 1965.

The program offered basic journalism skills courses, among them newswriting, editing, photo-journalism and opinion writing. A faculty which included Dean  Armando J. Malay, then an editor of the Manila Times, I.P. Soliongco of the Manila Chronicle and Hernando J. Abaya previously of the Manila Daily Bulletin, initially offered these courses. Lecturers – practitioners from the various newspaper and experts in their respective fields – also taught at the Institute together with its regular journalism faculty.

Over time the journalism curriculum has undergone many changes, with some courses being abolished and others being integrated. The basic philosophy behind the program has remained intact, however. It requires a strong grounding in the arts and sciences as well as the skills journalists require not only to be successful practitioners, but also to be socially responsible, caring and critical professionals aware of power as well as responsibilities of the press, and of the need to defend press freedom and live up to the highest ethical norms.

The program has always had this tradition – inherent, in the first place, in the University’s own orientation. The grounding in the arts and sciences is meant not only to provide students with the broad background journalists – who are called upon to write on a vast variety of subject matter – need. It is also intended to help develop critical awareness as well as a sense of crucial role the press and other information media play in transformation and democratization of society.

This orientation has helped graduate students who have since then assumed responsible positions in media. CMC graduates of journalism may sheets, magazines and other publications in the Philippines as well as radio and television. Generally, they have been highly skilled in the exercise of their profession and in most instances have spearheaded efforts to raise professional as well as ethical standards in their respective work places.

When the Institute of Mass Communication became a College in 1989, responsibility for the journalism program was assumed by a journalism department. (The program had been previously managed by a coordinator). The journalism department, as of now, has nine full-time faculty members, one full-time professor, three associate professor, and five assistant professor and eleven lecturers. Eight to ten lecturers, on the average, teach one or two subjects each semester. These lecturers are drawn from their industry and are distinguished by either exceptional performance in college, long and varied experience in positions of responsibility, or both.

The journalism program’s current development directions take into account the need to familiarize students with the progress being achieved in information technology as well as to graduate students prepared for the coming of the information age to the Philippines. Additionally, however, classroom instructions has been oriented towards making students aware of their responsibility as journalists to participate and make a difference in the democratization of Philippine society by realizing that information is everyone’s right, and that as practitioners, it is their responsibility see to it that the information they disseminate is accurate, reliable and complete.

A corollary of this orientation is the awareness that practitioners cannot just accept existing conditions in the Philippine press if they serve to hinder the profession’s capability to help the transformation and democratization of Philippine society. Ethical behavior as well as the responsibility of making a difference in the orientation, editorial policies and working conditions in the press are therefore emphasized in the classroom. CMC’s journalism program is moved by both the realization that journalism graduates must be equipped in terms of skills and awareness to enter a profession beset by the many problems, as well as the commitment to address these problems, in addition to the possession of sufficient levels of knowledge in the arts and sciences to be able to competently discharge their responsibilities not only as news gatherers but also as editors and commentators in a society of conflict, instability and change.

Prof. Luis V. Teodoro

Former CMC Dean

Journalism students are expected to:

1. Acquire the skills needed for journalistic research, news gathering, reporting, and writing using both traditional and digital tools;

2. Conduct journalistic research/ newsgathering and news writing in an ethical and competent manner;

3. Demonstrate the ability to think critically, creatively, and independently;

4. Apply journalistic research and writing skills in specific areas of public interest;

5. Appreciate the public service role of journalists in society.