Waking up from something is easy at times. But there are instances that make this process harder than it appears. For one, it will feel like the person would want to go back to the dream and continue. They struggle to get out of bed and start moving. For a person such as myself, who had not picked up the pen due to fickle habits and constant hesitation, I was in for a rude awakening. Well, quite close.
This is where the Philippine Press Institute's seminar came to be. On the very first day, I had faced one simple trial that would be the starting point. Remembering names (definitely hard if you haven't used the faculty for memory). It took me a while to get their names right with the adjectives describing them but it got me awake. After that, I was not up to falling asleep again.
It’s strange that I mentioned something about falling asleep. When one thinks of it, boredom is the cause of people being distracted. Roots to it are from every angle but leads to one thing, disinterest. With that, I ended up realizing that I was stuck with excuses rather than real causes. To put it simply, I was having a hard time waking up from procrastinating. After stirring from the mental warm-up, I knew I would be up for more.
I continued to listen as veteran journalists and regular practitioners had their experts stand by the podium one after the other, sharing their insights and tips. From their stories, a shape of what journalism is began to materialize. This was more than just a profession; it's a vocation. It was not far from a priest serving his ministry. Driven by duty and the community, that's how terms like Civic Journalism came to existence. For the first half of the day, I had my notebook open and I was jotting down thoughts and notes non-stop, pausing only to listen when I want to grasp more to think about.
This routine was beginning to break the ice. The mind was breaking out after relearning about some basics. The principle of Writing Beyond the Written Word now comes into mind. The amusing thing was that I ended up thinking to myself, "What if I make a journalist as a pivotal character for a fictional story? What would be the driving force of the story?" The next thing I knew, I was listening to a talk about the social media (to which I got the encouragement to dust of my blog and get this post out) and ethics.
The talk about ethics now played a critical role with my sense of justice. I thought I had a grasp of the black and white spectrum with terms of moral issues. That's where I found myself stuck between crossroads all thanks to one question.
Is it ethical to expose the abusive behavior of a fellow journalist? (In this case, abuse in terms of corruption and its practice).
Stuck between two views, I found myself baffled. How do I approach a sensitive topic like this? While asking this to myself, I had an ethical journalist (and definitely a veteran due to her age being an old lady) beside me and I asked her. She smiled with a definite answer that soon made sense. If it was for the pursuit of truth, "pull the trigger" and expose. I think it made sense and that existing would only defeat the purpose.
The day ended with ethics. While sent towards our respective groups to cover news as part of the exercise, I was convinced about one thing.
Our job as a journalist; it is more of calling than mere application. It is a commitment rather than mere contract.
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