Heroes

A junior student of mine in Investigative Journalism wrote an article for the Phil. Star last Saturday about her heroes. “The men and women whose bylines appear in newspaper headlines and columns every single day are my role models. The extra chatty radio broadcasters who keep rush hour traffic a little saner, they’re my kind of rock stars. The people who bring my family a daily round-up of news on television every night, someday I’d like to be one of them. These people–these journalists, broadcasters and members of the media–they are my heroes,” wrote Iya Joson in her piece, Reckless Heroism.

Then she continued, “So you can just imagine how heavy my heart was when I caught my heroes acting everything else but heroic five days ago. My eyes stung when I saw them stubbornly persisting to catch the entire crisis on air, because the heroes I knew would have (done) their best to control the release of explicit, compromising information. My breathing was thick with disappointment when I heard the reporters’ voice-overs to the video, because my heroes wouldn’t have gone as far as sharing inaccurate and, often, insensitive commentaries on live television. How my heroes–the media–handled the hostage massacre on Aug. 23 was a painful slap on everything I knew as an aspiring journalist.”

Ouch. As someone who also teaches journalism, I try my very best to balance idealism and theory on the one hand,  with pragmatism and large doses of reality on the other hand. It is never wise for any aspiring journalist to venture out into the world cloaked in or protected by excessive naivete. It is always best to get one’s hands dirty, see the ugly side of people and life, and plunge into valleys of darkness to better survive the sometimes harsh world of writing and reporting.

Yet I am careful to temper my sometimes jaded view of journalism and try my very best to inject excitement, idealism, values, and hope. After all, there is no profession or craft like journalism. One can make a difference, meet different kinds of people from all walks of life, be immersed in different places and situations in a short span of time, and grow in wisdom while mastering the ways of the world. As they say, journalism is a life-long learning experience. It teaches you to be street-smart. It teaches you about your limits and makes you realize how far you are willing to go to stretch them. It’s a continuing journey of self-discovery. Can you beat that?

After an eye-opener that is Newswriting and a more rigorous and stressful Investigative Journalism, some students who go through the wringer make wise decisions. They either realize they are not cut out for journalism or they deepen their resolve to plunge into it after they graduate. It’s not easy, they know.

Whenever there are major crisis events in the media, I come alive and I worry to death at the same time. From the professional and even academic standpoint, there is new experience to learn from, talk and debate about. From the teaching perspective, there is concern that more of the youth will shun the practice of journalism because of extreme disappointment and sheer disgruntlement. This is bad for a profession that needs a continuous supply of critical thinkers who can write and run after stories too. So I continue to wish that deep inside, they regard even ugly experiences as part of the challenge.

Iya ended her piece with, “In the embarrassing aftermath of it all, I will take comfort in knowing that because what happened last Monday happened, it will never, ever repeat itself again. My heroes will hopefully get their good cape straight again–Aug. 23 will be the last time reckless journalism will set foot in this country.”

And I couldn’t help but bite my lower lip and restrain my spontaneous urges.