OJT Journal (April 8 – April 15)
By Yeye Ignacio
Hello my OJT diary! It is my first entry for my first internship week so let me introduce to you first the basic information pertaining to my work. I am currently doing my training at The Philippine STAR with my assigned beats: Office of the Vice President, Department of Foreign Affairs and Embassies. With the company’s instruction, I am guided by my trainer, Ms. Pia Lee-Brago, STAR’s assigned reporter to DFA. Under her supervision, I have my co-trainee from the University of Santo Tomas, and her name is Jen. We will go with Ms. Brago Mondays to Fridays depending on her fieldwork schedule.
STAR allowed its trainees to choose the date on when they would wish to start their work, and I chose to begin on April 8, Friday. Ms. Brago asked me and Jen to be at the DFA press lobby at 10:00 am. That is our regular meeting place. The guard instead, requested us to just wait for our trainer inside the media corps room, and there I saw the area where the press conferences of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario are being held.
When Ms. Brago arrived, we rode a cab going to Mandarin Hotel in Makati. We covered an event by the European Union (Cultural Group) called Viva Europa 2011, where the organization officially opened this year’s European Union festival. It is a three-month-celebration of European culture in arts, music, dance, films, languages and poetry. The EU delegates, with its member states, presented in the event their different activities and plans. The event also had Storyline’s KINSE, presented by Patricia Evangelista. With that, Ms. Brago asked us to write a news article, to be submitted evening of the same day. We are also commanded to do a research about the organization for the article’s supporting details.
After the event, we went to the Australian Embassy in Makati. My trainer borrowed one recorded press conference which I assumed she missed because of a conflict in her schedule. Since we did not witness the interview and the press conference itself, Ms. Brago no longer commanded us to write a news story about it.
Our trainer wants us to write at least one article per day from the DFA press releases, public advisories or news from Philippine Embassies. She said every production will credit some hours for our time card. The articles will be checked by her weekly for comments, and be sent back to us for rewritings and improvement. After the rewritings, she will give us our articles that are already edited by her for comparison.
The next day that we met was on Tuesday. We covered the first Philippine Retirement and Healthcare Summit at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati. It was organized by the Retirement and Healthcare Coalition and the Philippine Retirement Authority that will promote the Philippines as a haven and second home destination for foreign retirees. The event was also participated by Department of Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim and the proxy of President Aquino, Executive Secretary Pacquito Ochoa.
During the first session, the media people were called for an interview outside the event hall. My trainer asked me to observe and do what the press people will do. Jen was absent that day. Standing outside the hall was the chairman of the RHC. It was my first time to experience actual interview with the press. I think, based on my realization, voice recorder is needed when having an interview. Everybody has it, except for me. I find it hard to write the exact words that the interviewee was saying. I think it is most crucial if you are going to quote him/her concerning one critical issue.
After the RHC chairman was the general manager of PRA. My trainer challenged me to do the job by myself. She was observing me while standing steps away from us. During the interview, I wrote the press’ questions and his answers. It was a bit hard to transcribe on the spot. I also noticed the exchange of calling cards between the press and the interviewee for further questions and future announcements.
We no longer finished the event since it was a whole day summit and she said we still have to write the story. My deadline for that event was 2:00 pm so I have to go home straight and write the story to meet the deadline. On my way home, I was already reading my notes and looking for my focus. I started the article right after reaching our home.
On Friday, we went to EDSA Sangri-la to cover the European Commission Evaluation. The evaluation covered the EU’s cooperation relations with the Philippines for the past 2002-2009, and to evaluate its aid program regarding poverty reduction. My trainer said that the evaluation event of the organization is important since it talks about the budget and improvement.
After the presentation, many personalities from different organizations and embassies gave their comments, suggestions and questions regarding the accountability of the program. I realized that the program has different issues. After the open forum, the press went to the EC’s evaluation leader for a short interview and clarification regarding the program.
Ms. Brago asked us to write an article that will be submitted evening of the same day. She also told us to read a 70-page-evaluation book containing the 6 projects of EC to aid the Philippines. We are expected to find another story from there and be passed to her during the holy week. This is the summary of my first week. I wrote 7 news articles for that week.
Barely 2 months ago, this was when everybody’s still undecided and still looking for an organization, our professor and practicum coordinator differentiated the distinctions between alternative media and mainstream media for us to know the training style that we really want. One distinction he mentioned was the time. In an alternative media, we are given longer time to research and write our articles, while in a mainstream media we are expected to produce articles in a given limited time. It seemed like we could improve more our writing skills in an alternative media where our articles are longer and detailed, while our writing ability under time pressure is the one being developed in mainstream media. That very moment, I felt confused on whether or not I should go for The Philippine Star, the internship organization I wished to pursue since 2nd year.
After all, I still tried to apply and blessed to be accepted in the company. I can now see the difference between the two in terms of training styles. My trainer told me that timeliness is one very important element in a broadsheet like Star. I also learned that Star, in avoidance to libel case, is discouraging a trainee by-liner in critical news stories.
Others may think that I am lucky with my training organization; but I do believe that alternative media and mainstream media have their own advantages and style. Even before I made my decision, I am already aware of their distinctions. I promised myself to maximize my time and give my best to learn more and improve my writing skills.
