As A Journalist

Journalism is a work of gathering news for or producing a newspaper, magazine or news broadcast. As an art, according to Alito Malinao, a Filipino journalist, it is the ability of telling story in a concise and simple manner as possible.

Being a journalist you are more than a chronicle of human events. You are, in a sense, a catalyctic being, articulating issues, identifying problems and if competent enough, offer solutions. As keeper of a journal you do not just report or interpret; but make a stand or become active participant in pursuing vital issues and provide thinking on areas of concern.

Of course, primary here is the knowledge of a particular tongue. You need to have a good command of a language to become a good journalist. And generally, English, as a universal language is the common medium in mass communication in almost all modern countries.

At the outset, beginning my journalism career, I started as a disc-jockey in a radio station (NBC-DXYZ) in 1977, then, went on as broadcaster/reporter until 1982. I joined DXGD in 1996 in the same capacity, while being cub reporter in a weekly tabloid-Tawi-Tawi Times. Later, the community paper folded and my training had just begun in the print media, although, my appointment to a government radio network, PBS-Radyo ng Bayan in Tawi-Tawi (1998-2001) as a broadcast journalist even appended my media experience in both print and broadcast journalism.

However, I felt the challenge of being a press man and the defunct weekly I was with was a trouncing defeat, to my journalism interest. So, I decided to put my own, the Tawi-Tawi Mirror, in 1997 and still runs today.

From its news reporter, writer, editor- Tawi-Tawi Mirror- was likely a one-man job of me circulating weekly in its earlier years. Of course, with professional writers around contributing articles and having their opinion columns, the paper went on against all odds, especially, on its financial flow. Today, it maintains its bi-monthly issues with a new role as a public service- oriented publication on a break-even capability- for the sake of information dissemination to the people.

On the other hand, Reenafezrah Publishing and Technical Training Center, carrying the task of print journalism in this southern frontier of the Philippines, has been stereotyped as a news center in Tawi-Tawi in coordination with the broadcast industry.

Aside from its news task, Reenafezrah Publishing has conducted refresher classes on journalism aimed at enhancing the writing skills of interested would-be journalists, in its modest capacity. Its brainchild, a book on ENGLISH-MALAY-FILIPINO-TAUSUG: PLAIN AND SIMPLE is dedicated to people who placed language a priority to succeed in life.