We called it a junior-senior prom but it was far from it. There was no dress code and no promenading. It was laid back yet special as senior and young women journalists of Cebu shared intergenerational challenges.
We said the sharing was off-the-record, a safe space to discuss how it was then and now, without fear of being judged. The event was for Women’s Month (March) by Stet, the group formed in the mid-1980s when women journalists in Cebu were targeted as leftist supporters even before the advent of red-tagging. Most of them are now retired.
The junior-senior discussion happened on March 31, 2023, and was attended by 20 current and former or retired women journalists and guests. We talked about coverage challenges, dealing with difficult news sources who want to control the information flow, harassment in the workplace, unwelcome sexual advances or requests for dates, the pressure to be “one of the boys” on beat assignment, spousal abuse in one case and how some partners fail to understand the work’s demands such as staying out late, evening news events, taking calls at any time of the day or night.
There was banter about making sure you have clean and nice panties in case you figure in an accident and doctors have to cut your outer garments, or of sides A and B, even C and D, in your underwear, especially when out covering war, coup, disaster or an emergency.
The situations and personalities may be different now compared to 40 years ago but the challenges remain and the solutions are the same in standing for editorial integrity, upholding standards of accuracy and fairness, and resisting pressure from advertisers, news sources and owners.
Stet members and their current or former affiliations: Edra Benedicto, Philippine Daily Inquirer; Bingo Gonzalez, ABS-CBN, GMA 7, then Cebu Daily News; Melva Rodríguez Java, heritage advocate and formerly of GMA 7 Cebu; Eileen Mangubat, trustee, Cebu News Workers Foundation (Cenewof), and formerly of Cebu Daily News; Lelani Echaves-Paredes, SunStar Cebu and People’s Television 11; Maria Jane Paredes, trustee and communications head, Cebu Caritas Inc., and formerly of dyRC, dyBU, SunStar Cebu, and the Independent Post; Thea Riñen, Cebu Daily News; Michelle So, SunStar Cebu and Superbalita Cebu; and I (Nini Cabaero), consultant and trainer, Women in News of the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-Ifra), and formerly of SunStar Cebu and SunStar Network Exchange.
If you add all our individual decades of work, that would be nearly half a century’s worth of journalism experience.
Rep. Rachel “Cutie” del Mar (Cebu City, 1st district) was a guest as Cebu City’s woman legislator and daughter of the late Rep. Raul del Mar who initiated legislation on Cebu Press Freedom Day and on making more accessible to community journalists the venue for libel hearings, among others.
We ended with a list of topics for future conversations and training programs. It was a fitting end to Women’s Month and a beginning of our journey to strengthen women journalists, as our way of paying back the industry.