_figures of speech_

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Social responsibility for every journalists, broadcasters and radio programmers is an important trait to practice; as the saying goes, “with great power, comes great responsibility”, being socially responsible is important for mass communicators for them to do their jobs effectively.

Media is a powerful industry and very influential. It is considered as the watchdog of the government; media people should never be biased, should not take sides and should report the truth and write stories with statements according to their sources. That is why media people, or the press has to have guidelines or codes of ethics for them to be guided and protected.

According to KBP Guidelines, news reports shall be fair, factual and objective. This is the same in the Philippine Journalist Code of Ethics, wherein news should be reported carefully, taking care not to suppress essential facts nor distort the truth by omission or improper emphasis. Being socially responsible as a broadcaster or a radio programmer, one should be able to report news fairly; airing both sides of the issue and as much as possible never committing mistakes in the story. Being socially responsible also means that the reporter or journalist will not omit the fact that he is a journalist and making a story about something to his or her sources. He or she should inform them that the story may be aired or published.

Journalists or reporters should also be aware of their conflicts of interest. If a journalist is related to a source of his or her story, he or she should inform his or her editor about it so that he or she may be assigned to another story. A journalist or a reporter should also refrain from receiving gifts and privileges from the sources of their stories to avoid mistrust from the readers and which may “cast doubt to the professional integrity” of the journalist or the reporter.

In gathering information, a reporter or a journalist should respect the confidentiality of the information provided to them. Only if it is in the interest of the public should confidential information be aired or published provided that the sources will be protected. In any other cases, a reporter or a journalist may look for an alternative source who can justify the information and may be identified. A broadcaster or a radio programmer should also be careful in what they say on air and in what they write in the newspapers. They should not use the power of media over personal conflicts with other people, they should not ridicule other people or other culture and furthermore, they should not discriminate.

Since media is a large industry, mass communicators should be aware of the different wants and needs of the masses. Social responsibility is sometimes an issue over mass communicators because there is a thin line separating law and ethics and a much thinner line separating truth and lie.

neglected..

do you ever feel like an option? a second priority instead of being someone on top of the list? i guess that's life. for example, when you have visitors, of course you entertain them right? you give them all your attention..but what if, in the process of giving them "all" your attention you forgot to give some of it to someone who deserves to have it? like, your girlfriend perhaps? ME!! don't get me wrong. i know visitors are important. they give color to your life and fun in your house. but.. i don't know.

i'm just so angry and i feel so damn rejected.

i'll just stop.

intern days..

Print Internship

My print internship was rather, well... interesting and tiring at the same time. Don't get me wrong with the word tiring, but the fact that you are writing stories but still at the end of the day, your story won't be published, then, that is tiring and very much depressing. You'll understand what I mean as you read on...

IN THE BEGINNING

I just came from Leyte when my classmate, Kim Amor sent me a text message saying that we will be meeting the "CDN people" at five in the afternoon. Imagine how tired I was when I came home and then had to go out again to meet with my classmates. I actually had no choice but to go since our internship is very important. When we were in CDN office, we were first briefed by the HR manager. And we had to wait for 30 minutes to meet her. Then she had to make us wait for 3 hours or so to meet with the editor in chief which was having her dinner first. We haven't had our dinner yet. Kristine, my other classmate, was very agitated since she was made to wait for such a long time without having much to do but to sit there in their office looking at the newspapers and the headlines and stuff. She was really getting angry since she still had a scheduled tutorial. And I was getting very bored as well.

When the editor in chief finally showed up, the air inside the office got very thick, and I can't seem to look her straight to her eyes. The other guys inside the office seem to look at us with strange look in their eyes, and I knew we were going to be in the hot sit any moment then.

FACE TO FACE WITH THE EDITOR

We were called inside a room they call the Library. We met the editor. They call her Ms. Connie, so we called her that way too. We also met Ms. Mars, she's the one directly in charge with us- The INTERNS- as they call us. Miss Mars is this petite lady with a sweet voice, but I can sense an air of perfection in her too. Miss Connie, well... I am afraid of her, if I must admit. She is very pretty though... Attractive...

She interviewed us. I was lucky it was a group interview, or else I would have blacked out and I would not know what to say. She told us her expectations, the deadlines that we should meet, and she gave us our beat. I got the City beat. Kimmie got the Provincial beat. Amor got the Police beat. Kristine got the Metro or Mandaue beat and Aireene got the Business beat.

MY FIRST DAY

I was lucky during my first day because I was paired with a reporter with a motorcycle. He is correspondent Chris Ligan. And I was spared with all the hassles of getting out and getting inside a jeepney. I was assigned to do a follow up on the flood victims in Sitio Dakit, Brgy. Guadalupe. It was ok. The next day, my first story was published included in the report of reporter Cris Evert Lato.

DIFFICULTIES AND THE OPPOSITE

It was very hard for me to get my stories published since we have to schedule them ahead of time, and to schedule, we have to send a text message to the CDN Editorial; the message should be the gist of your story with the complete details. Sometimes, I cannot do this because I do not have load. And because I am on a tight budget since my internship allowance is not included in  my mother's daily budget account, I cannot buy cell phone load always. But then, later on, I learned the technique of PASALOAD. I get load from my mother's phone, and then use it to schedule my stories.

UNFORGETTABLE DAYS

I have to unforgettable assignments. I really can't take these days off my mind. The first day was when I was assigned to cover the distribution of wheelchairs with Joy Augustus Young to the Person's with Disability and the Culminating of the Montessori Training. I had a free lunch and at the same time, I was able to save my money for fare since Sir Young was kind enough to let me ride inside his car, and I had an exclusive interview with him. It was like hitting two birds with one stone. Haha!!

My second most unforgettable assignment was when I was assigned to cover the Takakura Composting Method. I didn't know how to get to San Carlos Girl's High and there was a problem in our house that I got to the event late. Luckily, Sir Fernandez was a very good host, that I got the interview with the Japanese and with Paul Villarete and the other people in the program. I also got several hand-outs about the method. My next event to cover in the Young Mind's Academy at RAFI. I met Chloe there. What is interesting about this day is when I was about to go back to CDN Office to encode and submit my stories, I got pickpocket. I discovered that my wallet was gone. And I had to e-mail my articles instead. I was very disappointed because I lost my wallet!!!!

IN CONCLUSION

At the end of the day, I still go home. Eat dinner. And go to sleep. My internship was something that I could be proud of to tell my grandchildren in the future.

quite perfect..

even though i'm a little doubtful if i can have 120 points for our print internship, i will try my best. i'm not a very pessimistic person so at least i can think positively about this. i'm starting to love the atmosphere in cebu daily news. i don't know why, it's just that there's about it today that made me smile. i'm also inspired because kristine, one of my fellow interns, already finished her internship, and i'm going to follow her footsteps. it's good to start fresh..hhhmmmhhmm..

i'm also excited because cliff nygel will be here soon. i just hope that they'll have a safe trip from manila to here; only riding a bus. now, i'm really familiar with the route they're taking, but i know that'd be too tiring..

today, well i guess i've accomplished something. i just don't know how to name it. i guess i'm just overwhelmed. and i'm very happy for kristine.

good luck to me!!

a poem..

              MEANDERINGS

Have you ever asked yourself why
Some people are afraid to die?
Have you ever asked why people dwell in pain,
Why some rejoices for other's gain?

Have you questioned God of your existence,
In a world full of violence and ignorance?
Have you ever doubted your faith in Him
While some praises and glorifies His name?

Is love enough to cover your lies?
Is it enough to hide you disguise?
Can it quench your deadly thirst,
Guide you to the right road you'll traverse?

Is it enough to follow your heart?
Does it make you weak if you cry when you're apart?
Or is it better to face reality,
And turn your back to what makes you happy?

                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                        Mara

solitude..

last night i had a dream of my classmate april.

april died last year during new year's eve. the car they were in fell off a cliff in davao which took their lives (she and her sister). imagine our grief when we heard the news? she was a very good friend to us. she was also a very talented and intelligent student.

last night i dreamed of her. she was in apas. i don't know why but then she approached me an told me that she was here to visit a friend, she was smiling. i was a little surprised cause i didn't know that we had another classmate who lived in apas. i was thinking that she was visiting me. when she asked me to go with her to her friend's house, i woke up.

surprisingly, i was not afraid. i know april would not scare us. i just hope that wherever she is right now, she's happy.

spaced out..

i woke up because of the ramblings i heard outside my room. those things were my wake up calls ever since i can remember. my breakfast was..ahmm..four pieces of bread and piatos. haha! and i'm not on a diet. i've never been on a diet.

i was a little disappointed last night. i slept at 2 in the morning and all i got from nygel was a text message saying he was very tired and he's going to sleep. and i waited for hours for his message, but that was all that i got! well, i couldn't blame him since they just came from aliwan fiesta and i'm sure they were tired of dancing and walking under the heat of the sun in the quirino grandstand. but i wished he'd be more considerate to how i felt last night. well, at least he called.

i guess this dramatic feeling that i'm feeling right now is just a bi-product of genetically lazy hormones that has been populating my body! haha! now, where did i get that? i admit i've been very inactive lately. and it's not me.

i wish this day would be different.

gotta have my breakfast first!

ciao blog!

ps.
my sister and mom and cousin are coming back today. so i guess it's bye bye computer. they will take charge again. which means i can't update my blogs for some time, i can't check my friendster and multiply accounts...
which sucks!

what was i thinking?

yeah..so last april 14 i came back here from leyte and i felt so different. i was sort of less than happy to be back to a place i used to call home.

right now, my house in apas does not feel like a home anymore. it feels like i don't belong here aymore. now i know how my cousin janel feels whenever she's here and she just wants to get out. i don't know what has gotten into me but it feels like i can't and possibly, will not be happy here anymore.

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my mom treats me so differently. i can't understand her. tita cathy seems more like a mom to me that her. well, i know that's a very wrong statement, but it feels like someone, maybe it was me or her, made a gap between us. and it's a very thick gap if i may say so.

i'm missing cliff nygel so much, and i don't have anyone to tell these things to. i can't tell them to my mom because, as i said, we're more like strangers now more than ever.

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the last issue that i made between my sister and i was our fight wherein she throw a bottle of lotion to me and hit my neck. that was one hell of a fight and if it wasn't for my mom, i would really get back at her. because my mom went in the middle, i felt like i was about to blow up because i couldn't get even.

now, she acts like a prima donna who isn't doing anything except sitting and facing the computer. well, it isn't a big deal., except that she's quite so "use to" being so bossy. and sometimes it annoys me that she "can" complain, but she isn't doing anything.

and my mom's reaction to this? no comment!

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i'm spending lesser and lesser time with them. i thought that when cliff went home to leyte, i could spend more time bonding with my family. but i was wrong. so wrong! and because of that, i miss those times wherein cliff was still here and i could tell him everything. and he would just sit there and listen to me; saying "ok ranah mine oi..na pa bitaw ko.."

and then he would hug me and kiss me on the cheeks. and i miss that. i guess the only person who gives me the attention that i want, and probably more, is cliff nygel. he comforts me every time i have "home" problems. but right now, he's not here. he's in leyte. no one listens to me. there is absolutely no one that i could talk to about how i feel.

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i keep thinking what it would be like if i have to spend my whole summer vacation in leyte, in cliff nygel's home. i guess everything would turn out differently for me. at least there i could eat well, there is food everywhere, his parents are very nice, thoughtful, understanding, and very kind to me (they all accept me! and i'm flattered..)..his grandmother is very nice as well, i didn't hear her nag..compared to my grandma, who always find her reason to nag about simple things. his friends are so warm and accepting, they are very entertaining as well. i had so much fun when i was in leyte and i couldn't wait to go back there.

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my internship? well...ahhhmmm.. i'm in cebu daily news along with three of my classmates- kim, aireene and kristine. originally there were five of us, but kimberly amor transfered to an online publication in there place. my reaction to this? kim amor take me with you?!? hehehe.. n_n

i guess i'm just afraid, or let's say, pressured to the environment. but i'll do what it takes to finish the internship, with or without the support of anybody.

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it's been a long time since i haven't posted something in my blog.

and right now, i feel better. although not quite. just a little.

a million smiles..

during this past few days i am having a million smiles pasted in my face... i guess it's because everything is turning out great for both cliff and i.

my mom just bumped her head, and well...she's ok with my relationship with him already...one very influential factor to that decision would be the letter i gave her...i'm just so happy.

now, all i have to do is to ensure a passing grade in all my subjects. well, not just a passing grade, but a very good grade...LOL!!!

somehow, that's not very hard to do...

the problem of being so popular..

being popular is something that everyone in planet earth wants. i guess it's really important for some to be noticed..

i have known some people who are rather popular in different ways..

now..let's to the point...it's really difficult for me to voice this out since its actually happening to me...or rather, to us...i'm not saying that i am or we are popular..but to a certain extent, we are..i can feel that all eyes are on us when my boyfriend and i, my friend and her boyfriend, are together, just talking outside their house..well, just talking is quite an understatement..of course, sometimes we kiss, but not the heavy french kiss way..just the smack way..and sometimes we hug for just a few seconds and most of the time, he puts his arms around me..of course, since he is my boyfriend, we are sweet...

AND SO?!?? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH DISPLAYING A PART OF YOUR AFFECTION IN PUBLIC?

i mean, i don't care if there are backbiters out there, but it's a different case when one of them actually goes to my friend's house and tell her mom about it!!! duh?!?! so what's the big deal? are we suppose to cry about? are we suppose to stay silent about it just because she is a senior citizen?

we did not do anything wrong..my point here is that we were just there, trying to have some fun or moment together after school..but then, what's in store for us are purely backbites? damn...i was suppose to just let this all drift away..but i'm just so mad at this very moment..where can we get some peace around here? dammit...i so hate this...i swear!!!

just leave us alone for once!!!!!!!!!