Business journalism at its best!

Raul L. Locsin is the macho man of Philippine business journalism I have always admired and I must confess, aspired to be and know will never approximate. He lived his life extremely well. Yes, he enjoyed life as much as he could. But when it comes to the craft and mission of journalism, he was deadly serious.

He stood up to a dictator, corrupt bureaucrats and blackmailing publicity agents and proved that it is possible to stand by the principles of public trust in journalism and survive. It amazed me that he never lost the idealism of a young journalist even as he acknowledged the business realities of running a newspaper – meeting a payroll and paying the bills. I’ve always wondered how he managed that.

I first met Raul during the Martial Law years when all forms of motor racing were banned by a strict energy conservation law. Raul loved motocross racing and he wanted to find out what it would take to get a permit to be able to do it again. I arranged for his motocross group to be included in the experimental alcogas program. And yes, he got me started in this column writing business when he asked me to write one on corporate communications for Business Day.

Shortly after being able to do motocross again, Raul got into a serious accident. His motorcycle hit something in the Sierra Madre trail to Infanta, throwing him off and landing on him, breaking more than a couple of ribs. His injuries were serious enough to make his doctors prescribe six months in traction but he got off in three. In his mind, I guess, being kept out of action was worse than being killed.

His macho exploits with his motorbike give you a hint of how much an adventure seeker and risk taker he is. But what made Raul a respected name in Philippine journalism (and Asia too, having been selected as a Magsaysay Awardee in Journalism) has to do with the way he managed his paper, Business Day, during the darkest years of martial law. Somehow, he was able to get the truth out in his paper at a time when doing so was dangerous not just to the paper’s continued existence but to the publisher’s health as well.

That is because Raul knew exactly what he wanted out of his life. He knew what he believed in, what he stood for and what journalism should be and he worked with all his heart to get there, be that. I suspect he must have nurtured dreams of a kind of Shangri-la for local journalists and unlike many of us, he took the necessary steps to get the journey started. He must have known this Shangri-la is nothing more than hopes and aspirations, but the process of trying to reach it excited him.

In both Business Day and Business World, Raul Locsin envisioned a newspaper that is owned and managed by journalists for no other reason but to serve the mission of being a public trust. He pioneered the concept of a cooperative of journalists, where the staff members held shares of stock in the paper. He made sure that his staff was paid well or at least, better than industry so long as the paper could afford it.

For better or for worse, he had this old fashioned paternalistic streak. It really broke his heart when some of his staff decided to form a labor union. He decided to close the then highly profitable and well-respected Business Day rather than have to deal with a union that was formed behind his back. He resented the union’s intrusion into what to him was strictly management’s prerogative to hire and fire.

The one thing I saw and admired in Raul was his ability to instill discipline among his journalists. His reporters have this "fear of God" in their hearts with regard to meeting deadlines with quality stories, reporting daily to the newsroom and dealing with temptations to their integrity. He expects his reporters to tell it like it is because the penalty for compromising themselves is well, yes, Raul’s firing squad. Being fired by Raul for cause is a stigma that’s hard to bear.

Raul also thought that for journalists to be respected, they must not only write well, but must know what they are writing about. He insisted on training his corps of reporters from the ground up, recruiting them straight from college. He preferred to hire those who took up courses in economics, business and political science but he did hire journalism school graduates too and one dentist who reported on the stock market.

All of Raul’s recruits endured apprenticeship in the research department where they learn how to read balance sheets and how to track down financial malfeasance in the corporate and government sectors. He rarely hired experienced staff from the other papers. He wanted his staff to think and to behave as he would… he wanted no contamination. If a reporter leaves on his own, it is difficult to come back.

Raul’s macho attitude was also reflected in the way he deals with advertisers. He keeps the distinction clear between his editorial and advertising group. He resents advertisers who try to influence the coverage of the news by threatening to pull out their advertising.

Raul actually banned the advertising of some companies simply because an advertising boycott threat was hinted if his paper didn’t see things their way. He kept PLDT (under Tonyboy C) hanging for a while, refusing to publish their ads even after the proper apologies were made. I made arrangements for BayanTel to put in phones lines in the new BW office because he didn’t want to have anything to do with PLDT at that time… even if PLDT was sabotaging BayanTel’s usefulness by refusing proper interconnection.

Raul‘s dedication to his type of journalism springs from his deep love of country. I know he was always concerned about the course of national events. He wrote a stirring front page editorial following the assassination of Ninoy Aquino, a dangerous feat in those days. This was also why he was at the forefront of such undertakings as the Media Citizens Quick Count. I remember seeing him and the late Geny Lopez at the La Salle gym in Greenhills in the wee hours of election night, making sure everything is running smoothly and above board.

Finally, Raul has this pioneering spirit that made him do things before they became fashionable. I think Business Day was the first newspaper to computerize its editorial operations. Business World was the first to put out an online edition. Raul saw the value of information and the money to be made in information retrieval even before the dotcom era began. His library is probably the best refuge of local researchers.

Last Saturday evening, I didn’t quite know how to feel as I viewed Raul’s remains at the Business World office he has made his home. I was extremely sad that a personal idol is gone but there was also this sense of relief that he no longer has to endure the failure of his mortal body. I am sure the state of his health the past few years frustrated and depressed him more than anything else, testing the limits of his philosophical view of life in this earth.

Raul L. Locsin has left a very tough act to follow. He was business journalism at its best. We are all poorer that he is no longer among us. Hopefully, what we have learned from the macho man of Philippine journalism will live on as we continue the pilgrimage towards the Shangri-la he told us existed beyond the anarchy we now see.

To Mrs. Leticia Locsin and to Ronnie and Mike (who for all intents and purposes might as well be adopted sons of Raul), my deepest condolences.

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Here’s Dr. Ernie E. with something on a feeling we often have about our politicians.

There was a man who, everyday, would buy a newspaper on the way to work, glance at the headline, and hand it back to the newsboy. Day after day the man would go through this routine. Finally the newsboy could not stand it and he asked the man, "Why do you always buy a paper and only look at the front page before discarding it?"

The man replied, "I am only interested in the obituaries."

"But they are on page 21. You never even unfold the newspaper."

"Young man," he said, "the son of a bitch I’m looking for will be on the front page."

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]