Star editor, reporter grace Press Freedom Week forum

CEBU, Philippines - Veteran journalist Marichu Villanueva, Associate Editor of the Philippine Star, and Star reporter Cristina Mendez will speak in tomorrow’s forum on “Etiquette During Coverage” at the Marcelo Fernan Press Center.

The forum, which will tackle etiquette violations reporters commit during coverage, among others, is one of the highlights of the week-long activities in line with celebration of the 15th Cebu Press Freedom Week.

Villanueva said student journalists in particular will learn how coverage etiquettes are applied in the real world, both for print and broadcast media practitioners.

“The most common etiquette violation committed is taking the source out of context or misquoting…that is very common. It could either be due to carelessness or could be intentional,” Villanueva said.

Aside from giving participants an idea of how national media conduct interviews following journalistic rules, Villanueva said a television documentary will also be shown, which the audience will get to critic in an open forum.

“They will get to critic which among the etiquettes were violated and which were followed,” Villanueva said.

With 30 years of solid background in journalism, Villanueva was one of the founding officers of the Malacañang Press Corps.

She started her career in journalism in 1982 as reporter and researcher of the Economic Monitor for four years before joining The Times Journal.

From 1988 to 1996, she worked as senior reporter and columnist for the Manila Standard before eventually joining the Star in 1996 as a senior reporter covering Malacañang for next nine years.

In 2005, she was promoted to News Editor and subsequently as Associate Editor in 2008. She also writes a tri-weekly column for the Star entitled, “Commonsense.”

Tomorrow’s forum will be organized jointly by The Freeman, Banat News and Aboitiz Equity Ventures. - Ferliza C. Contratista/JMO (FREEMAN NEWS)