I.
What is Journalism?
Eric Hodgins of Time Magazine defines it as, “Journalism is the conveying of information from
here to there with accuracy, insight and dispatch and in such a manner that the truth is served and
the rightness of things is made slowly, even if not immediately, more evident”.
“Any authored text, in written, audio or visual form, which claims to be (i.e. is presented to its
audience as) a truthful statement about, or record of, some hitherto unknown (new) feature of the
actual, social world” (McNair 1998) And this gives us the points we have seen before: Truth.
Newness.
Journalism is generally a term used to denote the practice of reporting news or current
happenings for the masses of the country. While the people who work m collecting news and
gathering information through various means are called journalists, the mediums through which
they communicate the news — newspaper, radio, television, website etc. are called media.
Journalist reports comes from interviewing, studying, examining, documenting, assessing, and
researching of the event. New journalists are often taught to report on the five Ws, so you’ll
notice that most pieces of journalism include some or all of these:
Who was it?
What did they do?
Where were they?
When did it happen?
Why did it happen?
II. What is Campus Journalism?
It is defined as “that enjoyable activity of the staff of the campus paper in collecting. Organizing
and presenting news, writing editorials, columns, features, and literary articles, taking pictures,
cartooning, copy reading, proofreading, dummying & writing headlines”.
Campus journalism usually refers to journalism that takes place at a college or university.
Institutions of higher learning often have their own newspapers. Sometimes they even have their
own radio and TV stations. Since the invention of the internet, campus journalism can even be
accessed online.
Campus journalism is the academic institution’s version of the genaral journalism. It is the free
newspaper of the students, by the students, and for the students to circulate within the academic
community.
Through the Campus Journalism Act of 1991, also known as Republic Act Numbered 7079, the
establishment of school publication in basic education and in higher learning institutions has
been legalized.
Major sections of a campus paper:
Front Page – serves as the banner page of the campus paper. The most important news story for a
specific volume can be seen in the front page.
News Page – it is where all news written concerning the students in the campus can be read.
Editorial Page – it is the page where the Editor gives reliable opinion regarding a chosen issue.
Feature Page – News stories better-written through an artistic approach can be seen in this page.
Community Development Page – it is the page where articles about the campus’ participation to
off-campus community-activities can be read.
Science and Technology Page features stories about students’ discoveries, inventions,
experiments, research projects, and all others concerning science or technological development.
Sports Page – contains stories featuring the students’ participation on any sports event inside the
campus or representing the institution in off-campus sports fest.
Different types of media have been used by brands or companies to communicate with their
target audience. The importance of media cannot be understated – because it allows people to
receive relevant information. Media has been used as a source of information, entertainment, and
as a way to learn new things. Over time, the forms of media that are primarily in use have
changed.
Media can be classified into three types – print, broadcast, and internet. While print media is the
oldest form of media, in current times, internet media is the most relevant.
Print Media
A long time ago, print media used to be the only method of delivering relevant information to the
public. Print media is the oldest form of media, and has been used for entertainment,
advertisements, and as a source of information. It was the only way the public could gain access
to news and important information for a long period of time. While print media is usually
thought of as newspapers or magazines, it can include numerous other forms as well:
Newspapers — Most newspapers have been printed daily or weekly, and covered news about
world events, politics, sports, and local/national events. They also covered entertainment news,
such as information related to celebrities or fashion.
Magazines — Magazines were printed less frequently on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual
basis. Magazines usually covered news and information about one specific niche.
Books — Books, both fiction and nonfiction, are a means to convey relevant information or to
entertain the reader.
Banners, Billboards, Brochures, and Flyers — These forms of media were primarily used for
advertising purposes, or to relate important information about a brand or company to the public.
Broadcasting Media
Broadcasting media consists of videos, audios, and any other audio-visual content that can
provide relevant information to the public or entertain them. It includes the following methods of
sharing information or messages:
Television — Television is one of the media forms that are still widely used. There are numerous
channels that show different types of content, and usually carry advertisements that target a
certain demographic.
Radio — Radio used to be a popular form of media in the past, but it is losing ground in recent
times. Nonetheless, a number of people still use the radio to listen to music, the news, and
receive weather updates.
Movies — Movies have been one of the most popular forms of media that have been accessible
in the past century. Movies can be entertaining, or they can carry a message to promote a social
cause. It may also be used as a method to promote different cultures.
Internet Media
In recent times, the internet has become the primary platform that is used for communication and
for the delivery of important information. The internet now fulfills all the tasks that traditional
media used to fulfill – such as getting the news, finding entertainment, receiving crucial
information, or as a platform to advertise to people. Websites on the internet can provide content
in the form of text, audio, and video. The different types of internet media includes the
following:
Social media — These are websites that allow users to interact with each other, or
generate/promote content.
Forums – These are places of discussion, where different users can talk about a particular topic
that interests them.
Podcasts — Podcasts have taken the place of radio shows, where people can listen to certain
hosts talk about topics that interest them.
III. Overview on Media Literacy
The core concept of media literacy is intelligent engagement, as both a user and a creator, with
media and technology. A media-literate person can decode, evaluate, analyze, and produce both
print and electronic media. Two closely related constructs are media education, teaching about
media as distinguished from teaching with media, and media studies, emphasizing hands-on
experiences with media production. As an area of scholarship, advocacy, and action, media
literacy is contested terrain with some agreed-upon facts: content is constructed using unique
languages and must be interpreted; context influences production and interpretation; and content
influences understanding of social reality. Given at least four orientations subsumed under media
literacy, the challenges posed by the newer construct information literacy (responding to
increased use of computers, the Internet, and the World Wide Web), and the continuing evolution
of modern media and technology and their uses, media literacy will likely continue to evolve
conceptually and to struggle to incorporate multiple, related perspectives under one umbrella for
purposes of advocacy and education.
A definition set forth by the Center for Media Literacy (CML), a pioneering organization in the
area of media literacy education, is as follows: “Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to
education. It provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in a variety
of forms—from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role
of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens
of a democracy” (Thoman & Jolls, 2003, p. 21). Building upon this definition, media literacy
also “refers to analytical, reflective understanding of print and electronic mass media, including
film, their aesthetic components, institutional structures, socioeconomic contexts, and an ability
to interact with media in preparing audiovisual products and in influencing media decision
makers” (Brown, 2001).
Media literacy is defined as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages across a
variety of contexts”.
This four-component model has the advantage of applying equally well to print, broadcasting
and the internet. This is familiar territory for print and broadcasting, subject of many policy
initiatives and educational curricula. This may encompass Internet literacy, thus.
1. Access
Access rests on a dynamic and social process, not a one-off act of provision. Once initial
access is established, developing literacy leads users to alter significantly and continually
the conditions of access (updating, upgrading and extending hardware and software
applications). Problematically, given socio-demographic inequalities in maternal, social
and symbolic resources, inequalities in access to online knowledge, communication and
participation will continue.
2. Analysis
People’s engagement with both print and audiovisual media has been shown to rely on a
range of analytic competencies. In the audiovisual domain, these include an
understanding of the agency, categories, technologies, languages, representations and
audiences for media. At present, not only is a parallel account of internet-related analytic
skills highly underdeveloped but the public has yet to develop such skills and so to make
the most of online opportunities.
3. Evaluation
There is little point in access or analysis without judgement, but a stress on evaluation
raises, rightly, some difficult policy questions when specifying and legitimating
appropriate bases of critical literacy – aesthetic, political, ideological and/or economic.
The scope and purpose of evaluation is also disputed: is media literacy intended to
promote a democratized, diverse, anti-elitist approach to online representations or should
it underpin a more traditional, hierarchical discrimination of good from bad, authoritative
from unauthorized, information and communication?
4. Content Creation
Although not all definitions of media literacy include the requirement to create, a produce
symbolic texts, it argued first, that people attain a deeper understanding of the
conventions and merits of professionally produced material if they have direct experience
of content production and second, that the internet par excellence is a medium which
offers hitherto unimagined opportunities for ordinary people to create online content. To
exclude this from a definition of media literacy would be to greatly under-utilize the
potential of the internet for the public.
IV. History of Journalism in the World
The earliest known journalistic product was a news sheet circulated in ancient Rome: the Acta
Diurna, said to date from before 59 BcE. The Acta Diurna recorded important daily events such
as public speeches. It was published daily and hung in prominent places. In China during the
Tang dynasty, a court circular called a bao, or “report,” was issued to government officials. This
gazette appeared in various forms and under various names more or less continually to the end of
the Qing dynasty in 1911. The first regularly published newspapers appeared in German cities
and in Antwerp about 1609. The first English newspaper, the Weekly Newes, was published in
1622. One of the first daily newspapers, The Daily Courant, appeared in 1702.
At first hindered by government imposed censorship, taxes, and other restrictions, newspapers in
the 18th century came to enjoy the reportorial freedom and indispensable function that they have
retained to the present day. The growing demand for newspapers owing to the spread of literacy
and the introduction of steam and then electric-driven presses caused the daily circulation of
newspapers to rise from the thousands to the hundreds of thousands and eventually to the
millions.
Magazines, which had started in the 17th century as learned journals, began to feature opinionforming articles on current affairs, such as those in the Zatler (1709-11) and the Spectator (171112). Appearing in the 1830s were cheap masscirculation magazines aimed at a wider and less
well-educated public, as well as illustrated and women’s magazines. The cost of large-scale news
gathering led to the formation of news agencies, organizations that sold their international
journalistic reporting to many different individual newspapers and magazines. The invention of
the telegraph and then radio and television brought about a great increase in the speed and
timeliness of journalistic activity and, at the same time, provided massive new outlets and
audiences for their electronically distributed products. In the late 20th century, satellites and later
the Internet were used for the long-distance transmission of journalistic information.
V.
History of Journalism and Campus Journalism in the Philippines
Through History of JOURNALISM in the PHILIPPINES
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It was in the year 1637 when the “Father of Filipino Printing’, Tomas Pinpin, launched
the first Philippine newsletter called “Successos Felices” (Fortunate Events).
In 1799, following Pinpin’s debut in printing, he again came up with his Hojas Volantes
or “flying sheets”.
“Del Superior Govierno,’ was launched by Gov. Fernandez del Forgueras on August 8,
1811.
“La Esperanza” was released in 1846, which was edited by Felipe Lacorte and Evaristo
Calderon, lasted only for three years. However, it gave way to the birth of other dailies
such as “La Estrella” in 1847 and “Diario de Manila” in 1848.
Until 1862, a Tagalog publisher, Mariano Sevilla, founded El Catolico Filipino.
The year 1887 marked the beginning of a more opinionated journalism in the Philippines
on April 1, 1887 with the birth of La Opinion.
16TH CENTURY EARLY YEARS
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In February 19, 1889 La Solidaridad came out as the “mouthpiece of the revolution”
Katipuneros established “Ang Kalayaan” (Liberty) on January 1, 1896. It was edited by
Pio Valenzuela, Emilio Jacinto and Andres Bonifacio.
Other revolutionary papers that emerged in those times were El Heraldo de Iloilo on
January 1, 1898 and La Libertad on June 20, 1898. Also in the same year, La
Independencia was founded on September 3 by Gen. Antonio Luna and Fernando Ma.
Guerrero.
Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, in his effort to unify his armies, put up his own revolutionary
organ called “El Heraldo de la Revolucion” on September 28, 1898.
The arrival of more American fleets on August 13, 1898, American editors aboard
Admiral Dewey’s flagship came up with the Paper, Bounding Billow.
1898- AMERICAN COLONIALISM
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Manila Times of Thomas Gowan was established on October 11, 1898.
TVT (Taliba-La Vanguardia-Tribune) owned by Alejandro Roces, Sr,, later by his son
Ramon Roces, known as the “father of modern journalism” was considered the first
newspaper chain in the Philippines in the 1920s.
Manila Tribune was established by Roces on April 1, 1925, with Carlos P. Romulo as
editor. Another American newspaper issued that time was the “oldest existing
newspaper’, The Manila Daily Bulletin, established by Carson Taylor in February 1,
1900.
1942- JAPANESE OCCUPATION
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TVT which was left to operate however it was controlled and functioned as “solely for
the benefit of the Japanese state” on October 12, 1942.
Liwayway was allowed to be published regularly but under censorship of the Japanese
Imperial Army.
Manila Free Philippines became the first post-Liberation newspaper published by the US
Office of War Information.
Those that were revived included The Manila Bulletin, further developed in 1947,
Philippines Herald, Manila Chronicle, started as “The People’s Newspaper” and was later
bought by Eugenio Lopez in 1947 and Manila Times, reestablished by the Roces family.
Likewise, Ramon Roces, son of Don Alejandro, also put out Manila’s first afternoon
newspaper called Evening News. Furthermore, his Graphic, renamed as KislapGraphic,Liwayway and vernacular sister publications: Bisaya, Bannawag and Hiligaynon
were also re-launched.
1945- POST LIBERATION
1972- MARTIAL LAW
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More than three decades of free press, on September 21, 1972 upon the declaration of
Martial Law, publications were once again halted from their liberal operations.
It was in this period when the likes Geny Lopez, Jr., Chino Roces, Max V. Soliven, Luis
Beltran, Teodoro Locsin, Jose Diokno, Benigno Aquino, Jr. and others were detained at
Camp Crame.
1986- CONTEMPORARY TIMES
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When the Marcos’ administration ended because of the first People Power revolt, the
press was once again freed.
Manila Times by Ramon Roces decided to revive the paper on January 1986, registered
under his grandson, Alfredo R. Guerrero.
He also brought back La Vanguardia Publishing Co., Inc. which was for his other
grandson, Ramon R. Davila.
The Manila Chronicle was re-established with publisher Joaquin "Chino" Roces and
editor Amando Doronilla.
According to Jesus Valenzuela in the History of Journalism in the Philippine Islands (1933) and
John Lent in the Philippine Mass Communication (1964), the history of campus journalism in the
Philippines started when the:
University of Santo Tomas – El Liliputiense in 1890. However, Oscar Manalo, Narciso
Matienzo, and Virgilio Monteloyola in Ang Pamahayagan (1985)argued that the history of
campus journalism in the country started when the : University of the Philippines – The College
Folio, now The Philippine Collegian, in 1910. The Torch – Philippine Normal University
The Guidon - Ateneo de Manila University and The Varsitarian -University of Santo Tomas were
also published two years later. Whatever came first, Carlos Romulo y Pefia edited The Coconut,
the official student publication of the Manila High School, now the Araullo High School. It was
published in 1912 and it is now considered the first and oldest high school newspaper in the
country. In 1923, La Union High School in the Ilocos Region published The La Union Tab, the
first printed and regularly issued high school newspaper in the country. Since then, high school
newspapers came out one after the other. Among these high school newspapers were The
Pampangan, Pampanga High School, 1925; The Leytean, Leyte High School, 1925; The
Rizalian, Rizal High School, 1926; The Coconut, Tayabas High School, 1927; The Volcano,
Batangas High School, 1927; The Toil, La Union Trade School, 1928; The Samarinian, Samar
High School, 1928; The Melting Pot, Tarlac High School, 1929; The Granary, Nueva Ecija High
School, 1929; The Torres Torch, Torres High School, 1930; and The Cagayan Student Chronicle,
Cagayan High School, 1931.
In 1931, 30 out of 106 high schools in the country had campus newspapers registered at the
Bureau of Public Schools. In 1950, this number increased to 169; by 1954, to 253; by 1975, to
500; and by 1986, to more than 900 newspapers in English and in Filipino.
VI. REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7079, July 05, 1991
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND PROMOTION OF CAMPUS
JOURNALISM AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
This was proposed by Senator Orlando Mercado and was signed by then President Corazon
Aquino
SECTION 1. Title. – This Act shall be known and referred to as the “Campus Journalism Act of
1991.”
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. – it is the declared policy of the State to uphold and protect the
freedom of the press even at the campus level and to promote the development and growth of
campus journalism as a means of strengthening ethical values, encouraging critical and creative
thinking, and developing moral character and personal discipline of the Filipino youth. In
furtherance of this policy, the State shall undertake various programs and projects aimed at
improving the journalistic skills of students concerned and promoting responsible and free
journalism.
SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. –
a. School. – An institution for learning in the elementary, secondary or tertiary level
comprised of the studentry, administration, faculty and non-faculty personnel;
b. Student Publication. – The issue of any printed material that is independently
published by, and which meets the needs and interests of, the studentry;
c. Student Journalist. – Any bona fide student enrolled for the current semester or
term, who has passed or met the quatification and standards of the editorial board.
He must likewise maintain a satisfactory academic standing.
d. Editorial Board. – in the tertiary level, the editorial board shail be composed of
student journalists who have qualified in placement examinations. In the case of
elementary and high school levels, the editorial board shall be composed of a duly
appointed faculty adviser, the editor who qualified and a representative of the
Parents-Teachers’ Association, who will determine the editorial policies to be
implemented by the editor and staff members of the student publication
concerned.
At the tertiary level, the editorial board may include a publication adviser at the option of its
members.
e. Editorial Policies. – A set of guidelines by which a student publication is operated
and managed, taking into account Pertinent laws as well as the school
administration’s policies. Said guidelines shall determine the frequency of
publication, the manner of selecting articles and features and other similar
matters.
SEC. 4. Student Publication. – A student publication is published by the student body through an
editorial board and publication staff composed of students selected by fair and competitive
examinations. Once the publication is established, its editorial board shall freely determine its
editorial policies and manage the publication’s funds.
SEC. 5. Funding of Student Publication. – Funding for the student publication may include the
savings of the respective school’s appropriations, student subscnptions, donations, and other
sources of funds.
In no instance shall the Department of Education, Culture and Sports or the school
administration concerned withhold the release of funds sourced from the savings of the
appropriations of the respective schools and other sources intended for the student publication.
Subscription fees collected by the school administration shall be released automatically to the
student publication concerned.
SEC. 6. Publication Adviser. – The publication adviser shall be selected by the school
administration from a list of fecommendees submitted by the publication staff. The function of
the adviser shall be limited to one of technical guidance.
SEC. 7. Securty of Tenure. – A member of the publication staff Must maintain his or her status as
student in order to retain Membership in the publication staff. A student shall not be expelled or
suspended solely on the basis of articles he or she has written, or on the basis of the performance
of his or her duties in the student publication.
SEC. 8. Press Conferences and Training Seminars. – The Department of Education, Culture and
Sports shall sponsor penodic competitions, press conferences and training seminars in which
student-editors/writers and teacher-advisers of student publications in the elementary, secondary
and tertiary levels shail participate. Such competitions, conferences and seminars shail be held at
the inststutional, divisional, and regional levels, culminating with the holding of the annual
national elementary, secondary or tertlary School Press Conference in places of historical and/or
cultural interest in the country.
SEC. 9. Rules and Regulations. – The Department of Education, Culture and Sports, In
coordination with the officers of the national elementary, secondary or tertiary organizations or
official advisers of student publications, together with student journatists at the tertiary level and
existing organizations of student journalists, shall promulgate the rules and regulations necessary
for the effective implementation of this Act.
SEC. 10. Tax Exemption. – Pursuant to paragraph 4, Section 4, Article XIV of the Constitution,
all grants, endowments, donations, of contributions used actually, directly and exclusively for the
promotion of campus journalism as provided for in this Act shall be exempt from donor’s or gift
tax. SEC. 11. Appropriations. – For the initial year of implementation, the sum of Five million
pesos (P5,000,000 00) is hereby authorized to be charged against the savings from the current
appropriations of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports.
Thereafter, such amount as may be necessary shall be included tn The General Appropriations
Act.
SEC. 12. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following the completion
of its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.
VII. Issues in Campus Journalism
Campus journalism is one of the cornerstones of free expression.
CAMPUS JOURNALISM FACES THREATS OF:
1. REPRESSION
Repression is the action of subduing someone or something by force.
Related Article: It is said that the process of publishing stories has been “very bureaucratic and
with strict censorship, “sometimes disallowing students from producing articles concerning the
school and National issues. This was confirmed by SINAG, the student publication of the
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy of the University of the Philppines-Diliman.
2. Funding
Related Article: It was claimed that school administrators paralyze the printing of newspapers by
withholding publication funds. “Pinakamalaking issue rin talaga na kinakaharap ng mga campus
publication ngayon ay defunding. For example kami sa SINAG, wala talaga kaming nakukuhang
funds.
A number of college publications at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) are also
starting to “dissolve” due to lack of funding, according to PUP’s The Catalyst EIC Regina
Tolentino.
3. Red- Tagging and Harassment against various Campus Publications and Organizations
Red-Tagging, also known as red-baiting, has been used for decades in the Ptulippines in the
government's campaign against the communist New People’s Army (NPA), which began in
1969.
Related Article: The Philippine Collegian, the university's official student publication, also
reported that an anonymous profile accused its staff of being “wanted terrorist reporters,”
together with other UP student publications and its system wide alliance, UP Solidaridad.
The unidentified sender also threatened the publication “of getting assassinated If they continued
engaging in their work as part of the alternative press.”
OTHER ISSUES OF JOURNALISM:
4. Libel
According to the American and English Encyclopedia of Law, a libel is a malicious defamation
expressed either by writing or printing, or by signs, pictures, effigies or the like; tending to
blacken the memory of readers about the so called accusations to a journlist.