As part of its fifth anniversary celebration, I-Witness is showing some of its best episodes starting today until Thursday at the UP Film Center at the State University campus in Diliman, Quezon City. Admission is free. (Call 9287021 loc. 595 for the schedule.)
Aired on GMA 7 every Monday after Saksi, I-Witness boasts of some of the finest reporters in Philippine broadcasting. One of them is Vicky Morales, who has won numerous awards and citations both as public affairs host and newscaster here and abroad. Very charming and extremely beautiful, this Ateneo graduate (with training at the New York University) still brings in some brightness into our lives in spite of all the mostly bad news (crime, corruption, peso devaluation, etc.) we hear on TV today. (She co-anchors Saksi with Mike Enriquez.)
Below, I asked Ms. Morales to talk about her career as one of the prized reporters of I-Witness.
What were the episodes that you did for I-Witness that you consider your personal favorites? Name at least three and specify why.
I like Missing a lot because of the way it jolted me and many others who caught the show. I saw for myself the trauma families go through when one of its members mysteriously disappears. I can’t forget this image of a 70-year-old father carrying a cardboard sign saying, "Please help me find my daughter." No one should ever have to go through something like that, yet it happens more often than we think. I consider this episode a work in progress because I’m still hoping for a happy ending. It was after shooting this episode that I decided to cut down on my work commitments and spend more time with the people who are truly important.
I also like Riles because it won for me my first KBP Best Public Affairs Host Award. I lived two weeks of my life along the railroad tracks, and got to experience a life I had never known. I wanted very much to fit in with the rest of the boys in the train, that at one point, I tried to copy what some of them were doing to get a free ride. I climbed my way to the slippery top of a speeding train in the middle of typhoon weather – and I had to keep my balance while trying to avoid getting my neck caught in the electric wires.
Askal and Sabah, ang Bagong Amerika? are also important to me because each episode won for me a Finalist Certificate in the prestigious New York Festivals.
What are the problems (and frustrations) that you encounter working for a public affairs program like I-Witness? What about logistics? Do you have a problem with that in your station?
Time, time, time – that’s always an issue but we’ve learned to live with it. International documentarists get at least six months to complete a docu – we get only two weeks. That includes brainstorming for a topic, doing research, gathering information, conducting interviews, shooting the video, writing the script, editing the material, and post-production. Which is why my eyebags are this deep and I get really hyper whenever we’re close to airing.
Another thing we’ve mastered is how to live within a limited budget. In order to be viable, I-Witness needs to operate within a fixed budget – and that could sometimes be stifling especially when it comes to out-of-the-country shoots. But the flipside is that it pushes us to be more creative and resourceful. So you can just imagine how rewarding it is when our episodes get to compete with stuff produced by ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC.
How do you come up with stories for the show? Please cite examples.
We sit down as a group and put all our ideas on the table – no matter how crazy they may sound. It could be an idea that popped into our head one fine day, something we heard from someone else, or an issue we came across in the papers. We challenge each other’s ideas and narrow down the list to that one topic most exciting to us. It should also have the potential to effect positive change and to translate well visually since television is our medium.
Sometimes, it’s just serendipitous. Once we were doing an episode on Baclaran but for some reason, I felt the case studies we managed to get were not compelling enough. I hung out near the flower vendors and casually asked the lady beside me why she was in Baclaran. She just smiled and said she wished people would have a little more respect for showgirls like herself. She even introduced me to her friends and they invited me to one of their gigs. I realize much later that each of them had a very heartwarming story to tell. We decided to drop the Baclaran idea and pursue the Showgirl story.
Does your being beautiful get in the way of your work in I-Witness? Being so beautiful, don’t you have problems blending with the rest while gathering data for your stories?
Aba, thanks for thinking that – but that never occurred to me! I’m just like everyone else when I’m out working. I gather my own facts, shoot my own questions, specify the footage I want. Blending in has never even been a problem because I make myself comfortable around the people I interview, and that’s probably the same way they end up feeling around me. It also helps that I give them my full attention no matter what’s going on around us. I want to make people forget about me, my camera, and just focus on telling me their story. It’s much more flattering when a viewer tells me, "Ang galing ng report mo!" than "Ang ganda mo."
In your observation, what were the changes in News and Public Affairs programs through the years?
Mas pang-masa na ngayon ang mga programa ng News and Public Affairs kumpara sa dati because there’s this conscious effort to have our programs reach as many homes as possible. I remember a time when most programs were in English and were very "AB." Now, the "AB" has moved to cable and practically all programs on free TV have shifted to Tagalog.
I also noticed that talk shows used to dominate the Public Affairs time slots, with Probe being our lone magazine show. Now it’s the reverse. Debate nalang ang kaisa-isa naming talk show sa gabi, katapat ng Dong Puno Live. Everything else is either a docu or a magazine show. I guess it’s because not unless you’re a Winnie or a Dong, it can be very difficult to keep your viewers hooked – especially now that you have many other things competing for their attention, like cable and home video.
That’s why news programs have had to become more showbizy. I can’t help but think that perhaps it’s a reflection of our times. There used to be a big, bold line separating politics from entertainment. But these days, politics has become some form of entertainment – while some entertainers have confused themselves as politicians.
But the most obvious and exciting change we’ve seen over the years is that today, we’re able to beam news events as they happen, where they happen.
What is your stand regarding sensationalism in media? How do you avoid that? Do you consciously try to avoid it?
Sensationalism is sooo out! We’ve taken a very firm stand on that in our station. It’s right to spruce up your story with visual effects – just don’t get carried away and resort to cheap tactics just to get people to watch you. It’s difficult to recover from a lapse, and it’s not worth it especially since we’re here for the long term.
Parang ngang thesis defense. We have to be ready to defend each and every line in our script before our story makes it to the newscast. Sensationalism can provide a temporary distraction, but it’s really track record that will keep people going back for more.
What are your dream stories for I-Witness that you haven’t done yet and would like to do someday?
I’ve done more than 30 documentaries during the past three and a half years that I’ve been with I-Witness – yet my mind never seems to run out of new story ideas. Although there are still many other topics I’d like to try out, my ultimate dream story would be a first-hand account of finally getting pregnant and raising my own children.
(On Thursday, Jay Taruc talks about his career in I-Witness).