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Saturday, September 24, 2005
Women behind the news
By Cristina V. Roso
UP Mass Communication Major
Entering the fast-paced world of journalism takes a lot of courage. There are deadlines to meet and risks to face. Yet, many women join the profession, with a number of them even occupying some of the highest positions.
Here they describe the lure of chasing after the news.
“With journalism, we can move and persuade people,” says Queenie Bronce, a day editor of The Freeman. “We are able to tell them the problems confronting society and make a change.”
“Journalists see things that most people will never see, although at times, they have to take risks,” says Elena Pelobello, a broadcaster of Bombo Radyo Cebu.
Award-winning investigative journalist Sheila Coronel, executive director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), described some of these risks when she said she has had the chance of “ducking bullets, interviewing dissidents in secret places and meeting strange characters.”
What attracted Coronel to a career in journalism was “having the freedom to go around, unbound by having to keep regular hours, the ability to indulge my curiosity, and the power to influence public opinion and public policy.”
Indeed, journalism gives practitioners the opportunity to go to places they would never be able to visit on their own.
Malou Guanzon, a broadcaster in dyRF, says she has received an offer to go to Egypt for an assignment next month.
Not all mediamen get the perks, however. And even if they did, the job is not for everyone.
“Journalism is only for someone who feels that it’s a calling rather than a job,” emailed Judy Bolch, a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
The love of writing brought many women to the newsroom.
Isolde Amante, a journalist for 13 years and managing editor for news of Sun.Star Cebu, says she loves “staying close to the ink.”
Risky business
The profession comes with risks, however, because journalists may write stories that people won’t like.
Melanie Lim, a columnist of Sun.Star Cebu, says no one can be completely objective even with the facts. There are many versions of the truth.
There are also people who just don’t like to be criticized, said TV journalist Jessica Soho in the forum “Sine Totoo-Documentary Specials” held recently in Cebu.
As a result, journalists have been brought to court or received threats in connection with the stories they wrote.
Suzanne Salva-Alueta, chief of reporters for Cebu Daily News, was once charged with contempt of court, along with three of the paper’s editors. She has also received death threats.
Sun.Star Cebu Amante cited other things that may discourage journalists and tempt them to give up the job.
She said journalists meet many politicians whose primary objective is political survival, not public service. Another source of disappointment would be some members of the profession “who give it a bad name.” If a journalist does something wrong, all the other journalists also suffer.
The PCIJ’s Coronel says it is important to have respect for the people one meets, to have compassion for those who suffer, to be skeptical about those in power.
Edge over men
With the ranks of female journalists increasing, one may ask: Are women journalists better than men?
Maricor Banson, a broadcaster of dyRF Cebu, says: “Women, with their smiles, can penetrate even the hardest people around. They are more sympathetic (to news sources).”
Cherry Ann Lim, Sun.Star Cebu’s managing editor for special pages and features, adds that women may be more patient in pursuing a lead, a source and a story.
However, Amante stre-sses that there is equal opportunity between men and women journalists.
Of women journalists, particularly in Cebu, she says: “I’m very happy to report that many of them contributed a lot to the raising of the bar for journalists. If you’ll notice, many of the supervisors of the newspaper industry are women, although many of the managerial positions are still held by men.”
She adds that when you’re a woman in any field, especially in journalism, you have to prove that you can deliver just like everyone else. “There’s this cliché: look like a lady, take it like a man, and work like a dog. It still applies today.”
(September 23, 2005 issue)
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