Best Factual Presenter award a ‘dream come true’ for Rico Hizon

CNN Philippines’ senior anchor Rico Hizon was named Best Factual Presenter in the region at the Asian Academy Creative Awards (AACA) recently held in Singapore.

Presented every December as part of the Singapore Media Festival, the AACA honors creative excellence across 17 nations in the Asia-Pacific.

The Best Factual Presenter award, in particular, recognizes “outstanding presenting skills of programming and news” in the region’s best news and current affairs anchors.

As the grand winner of the category, Rico bested six other news anchors from Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and India.

The anchor of CNN Philippines’ flagship late-night news program The Final Word considered it a dream come true to be able to have his own Golden Goddess statuette after 35 years in broadcast journalism.

He now holds the distinction of being the first-ever Filipino journalist to be given such recognition.

“Yes, it’s true (it’s a dream come true). It’s the most prestigious award in Asia for broadcast journalists. The Best Factual Presenter Award merges the Best News Presenter and Best Current Affairs Presenter categories into one,” Rico told The STAR in an interview.

“There were other news anchors from a total of seven countries competing for the award. I was the national winner. May first stage yan. They picked the best factual presenters from each country and I won for the Philippines. I represented the country in the grand finals, which was in Singapore.” Another set of judges then decided on the grand finals winner, he added.

Sharing part of his speech at the awards event, he said, “First thing I said was ‘To God be the glory.’ I also thanked the men and women of CNN Philippines because without them I wouldn’t be winning this award. It’s also important that you also thank the guests because the guests also make up the content of your show.

“I’m a journalist, I ask tough questions, fair questions. I present the news which has to be balanced, unbiased and fair. That’s the most important thing for our viewers, and to our listeners that, you know, we deliver the truth.”

Though Rico has experienced difficult guests and news sources, he said he has not gotten into heated exchanges with them.

As a veteran broadcast journalist, he said he also makes a conscious effort not to sensationalize. “I always ask both sides of the issue depending on who is the guest so we always have to be fair and not one-sided. It always has to be both sides of the coin,” Rico continued.

“That has been my training in my 35 years in broadcast journalism when I was with CNBC and BBC News. We have been trained to ask the tough questions and you have to always… you cannot express your personal views, you cannot show your biases.”

Asked about the possibility of being recruited to transfer to other networks, he told The STAR: “I’m very happy with CNN Philippines because I have a very good team of young and good journalists. I’ve trained them with the best practices that I’ve learned from overseas.

“I always tell them when we write a story, it has to be tight, it has to be concise and direct to the point. Our reports have to also be short and informative.

“A couple of my producers have already moved on from the show and are now working with international networks. One now is working for an international network, and another one is a correspondent. So I’m really very proud of them. Another one of our producers is now with Columbia School of Journalism.”

When asked for his advice to young and aspiring TV journalists hoping to make it in the industry, Rico said, “I was also a frustrated journalist… It took me about three to four years to get a big break in the news. You have to persevere eh.

“If you really know what you want, if you really wanna be a real journalist, work your way up. Nothing comes easy in this career. You have to be multifaceted. You must know how to write, you must know how to edit. You must be able to do a lot of things, especially now with digital content creators and digital writers, it has to be multi-platform.”

However, the most essential and basic skill that young journos must acquire or do is how to write, he said.

“It is also important that you know the news across the board — local, international, business, sports, lifestyle and entertainment. You’re not limited to one topic. I was able to first find my niche in business and financial news. So, find your niche and then you expand. Because if you do too many things (at the same time), you will not really learn.”