DESPITE the threat from Typhoon Feria, journalism educators from eight ASEAN countries including other regions in the country, came to Manila to participate in the regional workshop on the UNESCO Model Journalism Curricula. The purpose was to examine the new model and how it can be adapted to suit the cultural peculiarities of each country. Too, there is recognition that country priorities are changing because of dynamic changes- within each country, the ASEAN as a regional entity, and the global community. First, there is the perception that journalism should be elevated to the category of the more established disciplines like medicine, the natural and social sciences. Another concern is that traditional newspapers, at least in the West, are phasing out in favor of online journalism. But the most important concern from the view of the organizers is that, in our knowledge economy, information is the most important resource.

Universal consensus on policies that would ensure survival of democracy, peace, social justice, and human rights, as well as the preservation of our planet would require an informed leadership and citizenry. Such responsibility would fall on those who manage information. The Journalism Curriculum although specifically designed for formal education, can be adapted for the training of information personnel, both in formal and nonformal learning settings. It recognizes that the environment is fast changing and that there is need for new knowledge, a new set of attitudes and new skills in the sourcing, processing and delivery of information.

Michael Cobden, professor of journalism in Canada and UNESCO leader of the Experts Group that drafted the Model Curricula speaks of “convulsions” – the growth of new media, losing our monopoly, the new social and ethical order, and other forces that require a journalism education response. In an era of “citizen journalism,” the professional journalist is faced with responsibilities such as “making sure that there are no biases in the content of news provided by citizen journalists. The former can serve as mediator by helping verify what is presented as news or facts. One can help by setting standards. The difference between citizen journalism and professional journalism is DISCIPLINE, he notes. Therefore, the latter can be the public’s source of objective, credible, and critical news. And if you can’t beat them, join them, he says, which is a good piece of advice, as both can learn from each other. The citizen’s knowledge of what is happening in his home ground would be useful to the professional journalist.

In addition to a comprehensive, multidisciplinary and general knowledge and intellectual ability, the professional journalist would require new mindsets. Courage, energy, and curiosity were ranked high in the order of personal attributes such as honesty, consistency, and integrity by journalism students during an earlier lecture at the UP College of Mass Communication. In most of the countries in the ASEAN, the greatest challenges involve speaking out against corruption, malgovernance,
exploitation by the powerful – all requiring courage and determination to ferret out the truth. This is why one must have the energy, the patience, and the tenacity to investigate and verify information. It demands curiosity to explore the world with a sense of wonder. One journalist remarked that, it takes courage for one to enter a profession fraught with more risks than benefits.

Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman, Secretary Emmanuel
Angeles, in his keynote address acknowledged the significant role journalists
played in our nation’s history by recalling some of our greatest heroes who were also journalists – Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Andres Bonifacio, Pio Valenzuela, and Graciano Lopez-Jaena who “inked their way to the revolution”