THE thing about technology is it is really the great equalizer. The provincial media have the same opportunities and challenges online as their Manila counterparts that are bigger and better funded.
Not only do they have the same opportunities to access information, publish online and immediately, and do live reporting on video. They also face the same troubles. In some cases, the provincial media have it worse.
Access to training and support are more available in Manila than here. There are fellowships, scholarships and trainings here and abroad that reach Cebu media workers but these opportunities are rare. As to threats to safety, a look at figures on journalist deaths show that majority of those killed worked in the provinces, away from the national capital.
The community press share the same challenges as their Manila counterparts - fake news, cyber abuse, online threats, trolls.
In this age when journalism faces an existential challenge, when journalists are seen as no longer relevant, the best thing is to do is go into self-examination mode. How do we regain the people’s trust?
The title of this column was taken from an article by Laureen Mondoñedo-Ynot, SunStar Network Exchange managing editor, in this year’s Cebu Journalism and Journalists magazine. She wrote about what Cebu editors are doing to remain relevant and earn back their readers’ trust. These are what they said:
Stick to standards – On accuracy, fairness, accountability. Our loyalty is to our readers, we give them the truth or the version closest to the truth, and we point out what is important to them through the use of our editorial judgment.
Attribute information – Minimize the use of anonymous sources; publish interview transcripts; blur what we need to blur on photos and videos; get permission and credit owner of photo or video that we used.
Be accountable for what we write, publish – If a mistake is made, a correction is issued. Point out to readers when there is fake news or incorrect information. Fake news is news when media write about it as part of journalism’s obligation to report the truth.
Correct misinformation – Call out fake news; give readers context or background information or statistics to understand the issue better. SunStar Cebu has a Vitals page every Sunday to, as editor-in-chief Isolde Amante said, give readers a deeper look at the facts and, along the way, correct any misinformation.
This final item is not in the list but is what they are also doing. Be transparent – Let readers know what journalists do, how they cover the news. Meet the audience; and label opinion to separate it from the news.
With these challenges facing media nowadays, students have been heard to ask – Is it a good time to be a journalist? Rosental Alves, founder and director of the Knight Center for Journalism at the University of Texas, has this reply. “It’s one of the best times to be a journalist. It’s a privilege for this generation not to be the one that is ending the world but the one that is building a new media ecosystem.”