Je suis un journaliste

After six years of trial and error journalism, I was finally accepted to the GMA7 newsroom last July 1. It wasn't an easy journey and I wager the byways behind me pale in comparison to the trials ahead. But the experience of having toiled from the bottom of the news food chain have imparted invaluable insights, not to mention considerable lessons in this reporter's career.

Having quit my well-paying but meaningless job at a major multi-national food company, I sought out my roots in Bacolod and holed up at my parent's house for over two months. There I was, at the threshold of a major career change only to realize I had absolutely no clue how to start my new life.

Being an off and on writer, and deeply interested in politics I started cultivating a dream to become a journalist. A newspaper journalist mind you, since most people I know think I have a gift for expressing myself on paper.

Sadly our dreams rarely take shape in the way we hope they will be. I found myself applying for the Inquirer as a layout artist (it was the only position available). Naturally I failed to impress upon my examiner that I was a competent writer and not a layout artist.

Nursing my ego I got a call from a friend back at my previous company that RPN-9 may have something for me. Broadcasting? I felt my confidence ebbing at the thought of a camera shoved at my face. Being a non-Tagalog, the thought of delivering the news scared the shit out of me.

But like the false optimism of our dreams, most of our fears are unfounded.

After talking to RPN's HR Manager, Ms. Lourdes Angeles, then Station Manager Dodi Lacuna gave me a writing exam. Ironically, I was given the task of translating two Inquirer articles into the vernacular. You could imagine how I regretted sleeping through my Pilipino subjects in high school.

But I am, or at least would like to think that I am God's special creature. An under-achieving intellect that has yet to find his true purpose in this world. I am a maggot without a carcass, a bullet without a target, a flea without a shaggy dog. I passed the test and I was off on a career that would open my eyes to the world.

With nary an idea of what an inverted pyramid was or that segue wasn't an alternative mode of transport, I dug a trench and went to work. To sum up my RPN Experience I offer the following list.

1. I learned to write in Tagalog
2. I learned that SOT meant sound on tape
3. Realized the desk was a person, not a piece of furniture.
4. Anchors were people
5. Ayos was a verb
6. You could get fired for making negative stories about the President
7. Nobody seems to notice if you attack the President in your standup.
8. RPN is a rich company - it can afford to pay it's board of directors 30 thousand pesos a month for doing nothing.
9. Sec. Cerge Remonde reaaaaaallllllllyyyyyy adores and worships President Arroyo.
10. Sec. Cerge Remonde calls everyone Du-dong.
11. You can run two newscasts daily with only two editing machines.
12. RPN's office should be renamed Broad-cat city for the sheer number of felines living there.

After three years of colorful pro-government experience I moved on to ABC-5.

There all my anti-government angst was given free reign and I raged my oftentimes opinionated reports on a largely indifferent government. While I was at ABC we lived for militant mass action, covering rallies till we choked. No rally was too small. No militant organization too obscure as long as it railed against the policies of the government. In a way it was a sobering experience. Though this government fails on many points of good governance, not all the actions of militant groups have altruistic intentions.

But for all our shortcomings, we made an impact. To quote a fellow journalist : ABC-5 was the Tribune of the broadcast industry. This reputation preceeded us in everything we undertook: the Comelec stopped our Election Tally coverage, we got our phones tapped for being too close to militants, we were singled out for allegedly videotaping Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim's victory speech.

What set my ABC experience apart from the RPN stint was the opportunities the organization presented. Working with competent and experienced mentors like Ed Lingao and Edward Navarette saw me exploring new avenues and intricacies of my craft.

I learned the art of the special report, the lengthy analytical editing monster that takes away your social life but reminds you how fulfilling this profession can be. And ofcourse there were the live reports, the initially terrifying ordeal of talking impromptu to the entire nation.

To sum up my ABC-5 experience I have drawn up this list:

1. Two people holding placards is technically considered a rally.
2. One person protesting is called a personal campaign.
3. Choking on an errant moth during a live report can only happen to me.
4. Everybody forgives you for forgetting your lines when the fly-away electrocutes you.
5. The voice mimicking you when using the fly-away is not your conscience but the devil incarnate out to make a fool out of you in front of a million people.
6. Cinema Secrets is a very expensive brand of make-up
7. Hans Montenegro is the HRD Director...no really he's got a degree in Managment and Psychology...
8. Gretchen Baretto is as beautiful as shee looks on tv.
9. Novaliches is quite literally another country.