Wednesday, September 19, 2007 Speak out: Students and the Press Freedom Week By Kairos Jacela ABMC MeC III, St. Theresa’s College
CEBU Press Freedom Week is not only an event gathering all media personalities in Cebu.
It is also an activity where students, particularly Mass Communication students, are given the opportunity to expose themselves to the media world.
This is made possible through different forums, like the one they had attended last year.
Three of these students attended the showing of the documentary film, "Killing Journalists: The Cebu Experience" held at the UP Conference Hall in UP Cebu.
Rachelle Marie Dangin, a 3rd year Mass Communication student of the University of the Philippines-Cebu (UP) and president of the Communicators of UP, shares what she learned in that event.
"I learned a lot knowing that only a small percentage of journalist killings are actually related to the journalists’ job.
I mean these journalists were killed because of their political affiliations and not because of writing for the media."
Bai Hayde Quiñanola, a 4th year Mass Communication student of St. Theresa's College-Cebu (STC) and one of the chosen representatives for the Cebu Citizens Press Council (CCPC)-initiated study, said that the forum was very informative and gave students the chance to meet media personnel “whom you can work with in the future."
Jane Stacy Cañizares, a 3rd year Mass Communication student of the Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) said that, "The killing of journalists, for example, wasn't really a big issue for us back then. It just started to knock on our heads that there really is something big out there that is very relevant to the course that we're taking up."
With this realization, she has decided, as president of their Mass Comm Circle, to hold an exhibit showcasing the real happenings of our society through photo journalism.
Elisabeth Baumgart, also a graduating Mass Communication Theresian and editor-in-chief of STC's The Catalyst shared her thoughts on the forum on online journalism held at the Marcelo Fernan Press Center, which she was really interested in.
"Sa online media, it's the whole world that you're communicating to. Through the talk, we learned of the possibilities the online media provides, what it has already done to society and what it can do in the future."
Another graduating Mass Communicator of STC and also a representative of the same study with Quiñanola, Bejay Villaflores, attended two forums namely the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas forum and New Challenges in Media. She finds them highly useful to all Masscom students.
"Through all those kinds of mga events, we get the feel of the real media world and we also get the chance to react on issues which they are experiencing in the present day."
The forums that these students have attended were able to inform and educate them.
It made them draw out realizations and learning that helped them become more proactive, aware and conscious of what is happening in our society.
Despite being a 4th year Nursing student of Velez College, Rachelle Mae Palang has this to say: "Bisan as students, kita, makat-un na ta nga we should advocate for freedom of the press even in the college level."
She is greatly involved with media issues through her membership in the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), an alliance that advocates press freedom.
All of these manifestations only prove that the Cebu Press Freedom Week is influential and very helpful to students, especially to future journalists in making them realize the essence of press freedom.
