Wanted

No Baby Talk

By Georgene Rhena P. Quilaton-Tambiga

NewsRecord is now 27 years old and just so near the transition to its fourth decade. It doesn't fail to amaze me that after all these years the newspaper has not grown to a megalomaniac chain of newspapers just like Cebu's Sun.Star or Ilo-ilo's Panay News. My understanding of the plight of most Philippine community newspapers, however, had put the amazement to sleep.

I have had enough of blaming our maim economy and a business climate that practically doesn't need advertising. I have had enough hair stretching days of waiting and waiting for something big and explosive to take place or be discovered so I could have my front page. It is just that, unlike in metropolitan areas a banner story for a San Carlos paper is never served on a silver platter.

And, I have had enough of blaming a relatively shallow people that practically don't think their knowledge of socio-political events as a life line. F. Sionil Jose has already explained our 'shallowness' on his September 12, 2011 Hindsight column on the Philippine Star.

Now, let me just take a different track. I regret to admit that among the hundred plus graduates of a local private high school, there were only two of us who went to college to study media, communication and journalism. Obviously, all the others rushed to buy white shoes and enrolled in nursing.

Between the two of us, I am the only one who landed on a newspaper job right after graduation and now continues to work in the field where I believe I am most effective and efficient.

I do not know what the numbers are in other local high schools. What I do know is that the rural electric cooperative was looking for a communication and journalism professional recently to manage and edit its newsletter. Someone came knocking at my door hoping it's still open but obviously it’s not.

This is one stark example of the imbalance of our workforce. But, more importantly this is one reason why our city's community media has difficulty thriving. There aren't any professionals to serve the community's need for "balanced news, fearless views," as the Inquirer puts it.

Personally, it is my dilemma because in NewsRecord's workforce alone, I am the only one young enough to run after one bottle battle to another. So, personally, I have made it my goal to develop quality and dedicated journalism professionals through teaching campus journalism in high school and college. Still, I have found almost no one who answered the call.

Well, I know one but he chose to serve another community for all the good reasons he has.

Thus, on our 27th anniversary, let my column be a plea for teachers and parents to encourage their students and children to spark interest in communications and journalism.

After all, what runs the world today is information. And with Marshall McLuhan's Global Village becoming a reality, every nook and cranny where some event, some earthquake, or some school-family feud can happen, a community journalist or communicator is always needed.