I'M LEAVING Sun.Star Pampanga (SSP) with a heavy heart. I'm leaving the newspaper I edited for about 30 months – the paper that I helped, along with the staff of the editorial department, become the most respected daily publication in the province.
Last Friday, March 5, 2010, I tendered my resignation as editor-in-chief of SSP, the position I held since October 22, 2007.
I wholeheartedly thank SSP President and co-owner Levi P. Laus for his kind words, respect and understanding he had shown me and for his desire and effort to make me stay as the newspaper’s EIC. I thank LPL for his consistent effort to patch up the professional conflict between the SSP management and the editorial department.
But while my sense of reason wants me to end the discord with the SSP GM, my journalist’s conscience persistently dictates the contrary. No self-respecting editor/full-time journalist would put himself under the authority of a PR man.
While it’s true that editorial independence is no longer absolute due to “corporatization” of media entities – which has been happening all over the world – it should never be to the point of allowing a known political and Clark PR man have a say on news and other editorial contents of a newspaper.
I thank the Cebu-based Sun.Star Publishing Inc., the majority owner of the paper, for its trust and confidence in me, particularly Executive Publisher Gina Garcia-Atienza and Editorial Services for Affiliates Chief Michelle So, who stood by me since day one.
I thank my staff – the reporters, correspondents, the chief lensman and the editorial assistants, as well as the staff of the other departments of SSP, who made my stay at the paper worthwhile. I thank them for their understanding, hard work and support.
From the bottom of the list in 2007, SSP rose to the no. 4 spot in online readership among other Sun.Star papers in mid 2008. And it was able to take the no. 3 spot (next to Sun.Star Cebu and Sun.Star Davao) in late 2009 with thousands of hits and page views daily.
Though my stint as EIC of Sun.Star Pampanga was not economically rewarding (as a matter of personal choice), I have served the paper with utmost dedication, taking into my heart the commitment not to put the paper in bad light amid strong pressures from both outside and within the paper to publish or not to publish PR or demolition stories for or against politicians and other entities.
Being in a position to provide Pampangueños with fair, balanced and unadulterated reports about the political, economic and social developments in the province has been truly rewarding to the soul – though upholding the principle of fair, balanced and responsible reporting and making sure there were enough local stories per day was not an easy task. I made friends and foes along the way.
Journalism, in the true sense of the word, is only for true-blooded journalists.
Knowing how to write PR stories and shallow reports on hot issues of the day doesn’t make one a journalist. Journalists are those who worked or are working as reporters and correspondents of widely circulated newspapers and broadcast organizations – those who have been trained with the discipline of honest-to-goodness journalism.
A militiaman who knows the basic military drills or how to accurately fire his gun is not a real soldier. Rubbing elbows with soldiers and wearing the same hats they wear don’t make him one of them. Only proper training and discipline makes one a real soldier.
Freedom of the press, Sun.Star credo states, belongs to the people and must be defended against encroachment or assault from any quarter, public or private.
Sun.Star and its journalists must be vigilant against all who would exploit them for selfish purposes. Sun.Star believes that a good newspaper is accurate, fair, honest, responsible, independent and decent.