Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The Evolution of Journalism


On August 30, 2006, Editor-in-Chief of Philippine Daily Inquirer Baguio Office and a respected Journalism professor in University of the Philippines Baguio (UPB), Prof. Rolando "Rolly" Fernandez, shared his insights about blogging as a new form of Journalism in an open forum held at IB 204 in UPB.

According to him, there are about 4.5 billion bloggers around the world, and about a million are from the Philippines. In this sudden boom of bloggers worldwide, the debate on whether blogging should be considered as journalism simultaneously rises.

"Possibility of blogging as a form of Journalism...I say it is," said Prof. Fernandez in reaction towards the said issue. He said that Journalism tends to be a word that most people overwhelm. "There is nothing special with journalists (the professionals)...ang trabaho nila is just to report events," he said in his aim to define what the word really stands for. As an answer to the raised question about blogging as a form of Journalism, he agrees that it is as long as what they do is the same thing as journalists do.

Blogging doesn't seem to be a threat to Journalism for Prof. Fernandez. For him, on-line reports actually compliment print medium in most ways, like in terms of maintaining immediacy.

As a personal opinion, Prof. Fernandez views blogging as an innovation in the Journalism profession. Advantages of blogging, like its multi-mediality, interactivity and low cost of production, can be used for their own benefits. He relays that through the use of internet, sharing information will be faster and a lot easier, but the down side of it will be due to the great pull of our striving economy into our ability cope with these modern technological advances. Not everyone has an ability to atleast own a computer and access the internet so for now the information that the internet has to offer will simply be limited to those who can afford.

For Prof. Fernandez, blogging seems to have a bright future, though it may not show now. But even with all the advantages it has to offer the field of Journalism, he worries about one consequence it can give--the continuous decline in the number of newspaper readership. He admits that most of today's generation tend to reject reading chunks of information from broadsheets due to impatience, and innovative sources of information are starting to overpower the print medium, but still he keeps his hopes up. With regards to this issue that print media is threatened by the boom of an alternative medium, he utters with great conviction, "not in my lifetime will I see the death of newspapers in this country. Not in my lifetime."

Sunday, August 27, 2006

noon: pinagkukunan ng kabuhayan, ngayon: ikawawakas ng kanilang buhay

08-28-06
AM 9:30

Tone-toneladang langis ngayon ang naglalagay sa panganib sa mga isla ng Guimaras at sa mga residente nito. Ayon sa artikulong inilabas ng Philippine Daily Inquirer, ito ay kinikilala ngayon bilang pinaka-malawakang
oil-spill sa Pilipinas. Sinasabing nasa 450,000 galon ang nilalamang langis ng lumubog na barkong kinontrata ng Petron para maghatid ng langis nitong ika-11 ng Agosto, at mahigit 50,000 galon na ang tumagas mula rito at unti-unting sumisira sa baybayin ng Guimaras. Ang larawan ng Guimaras Island na inilabas ng Philipine Daily Inquirer ay talaga nga namang nakakabahala. Makikita rito ang malawakang pagkalat ng langis na maaaring magdala ng panganib sa kalusugan ng mga residente sa nasabing lugar at sa karagatang pangunahing pangkabuhayan ng mga naninirahan doon.

Ang mga kapabayaang tulad nito ay di dapat winawalang bahala. Ang pagpatay sa kalikasan ay wala ring kaibahan sa pagpatay ng isang tao. Kung tutuusin nga, mas masama pa ang naidudulot ng paninira ng kalikasan dahil kung susumahin ay di hamak na mas maraming tao ang maaapektohan at mapeperwisyo. Kailangan ng karampatang parusa sa mga taong may kasalanan sa likod ng kasiraan sa yamang tubig na ito.

Nakakakaawang tignan ang mga residenteng tulong-tulong na naglilinis ng pampang na kanilang pinagkukunan ng kabuhayan. Hirap na hirap silang maglinis ng kalat ng iba para sa napakaliit na halaga, ngunit para nga ba sa pera ang ginagawa nila o para na rin sa sarili nila dahil walang ibang nagkukusang madumihan ang tila malilinis at malalambot nilang mga kamay kahit na sila pa ang may gawa ng kalat na ito. Maaari ngang nagbibigay ng tulong pinansyal ang kompanyang nasa likod ng trahedyang ito, ngunit hindi ito sapat para kung ikukumpara sa maaari nilang kitain sa loob ng buong araw na pangingisda at sa halagang maaari pa nilang gastusin pampaospital dahil sa sakit na maaari nilang makuha sa maghapong paglanghap ng amoy ng langis na halos dumikit na sa mga batong dati rati ay napakagandang tignan.

Nakakatuwang isipin, na napakalakas ng loob ng mga kompanya ng langis na patuloy na magtaas ng presyo, ngunit kung titignan ang sitwasyon ngayon, di man lang nila magawang pag-ingatan ang nakalalasong kemikal na patuloy nilang pinagkakakitaan. Nakakaawa man sa parte nila na napakalaking halaga ang maaaring nawala sa kanila dala ng paglubog ng barko, mas nakakaawa ang lahat ng residente sa paligid ng nasabing baybayin dahil ang kanilang dati'y pinagkukunan ng kabuhayan ay maaari pang maging sanhi ng kanilang kamatayan dala ng kapabayaan ng iilan.