What made education exciting for young journalists and editors

In preparation for the UNESCO forum, Education Makes News: A workshop on the coverage of education, we took Anuje "Pina" Sirikit, media specialist sent by the UNESCO regional office of Bangkok, to the Philippine STAR office. "Pina" was named after Pilipina, who was born in Manila, where her Thai father worked as a diplomat. They loved the Philippines so much that her father asked to be re-assigned to Manila. By then, Anuje took her masters in Asian Studies at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

Philippine STAR News Editor Ichu Villanueva met with us to discuss her role as news editor in the workshop. Pina met Editor-in-Chief Isaac Belmonte and Executive Editor Amy Pamintuan. In the newsroom, adjacent to the three main editorial desks, were tucked to the bulletin board, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Standard, Manila Bulletin, People’s Tonight-Journal, Malaya, Businessworld, among others. Computers are also connected "on-line" so there is access to news worldwide every minute of the day. At 4 p.m., Friday, the large corps of Lifestyle writers was rushing their weekend issue with Millet Mananquil. Articles of columnists were being laid out. The Sports, Business, Peoples and Events sections were all busy.

What excites reporters

The UNESCO media forum at the Eugenio Lopez Center in Antipolo last March 17 and 18, organized by the UNESCO National Commission in cooperation with the Lopez Group of Companies, ABS-CBN, Benpres, and the Philippine STAR, took the whole day of Saturday extending to post dinner dialogue. This was attended by 20 journalists: 8 newspapermen (from Philippine STAR, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Standard, Malaya, BusinessWorld, and People’s Tonight); 9 television correspondents (from ABS-CBN, Studio 23, IBC 13, and ABC 5) and 3 radio reporters (from Radyo Veritas, DZMM, and DZXL).

The reporters reacted enthusiastically to education themes analyzed by Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, ABS-CBN News Editor Maria Ressa, CHED Commissioner and TESDA Board Member Dr. Nona Ricafort, and Bureau of Alternative Learning System Director Carol Guerrero.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus announced that for want of quality and speed in the education of the nation, he is trying to put together a P26-billion campaign for computer infrastructure. The reporters asked: Are there enough trained teachers? What about barangays without electricity? National Computer Center Director General Tim de Rivera assured them that his office is involved in setting up the pilot phase.

UNESCO Communication Chair and Manila Bulletin columnist, Dr. Florangel Braid, flew to Tacloban to inaugurate the UNESCO-funded E-Center for the DOH-REACH-EV (Department of Health -Regional Electronic Access to Communication for Health in Eastern Visayas). She learned from her seatmate who worked for the Commission on Audit that the COA national survey on the use of computers led to the discovery that most of these computers have been wasted. Congressmen tend to donate them to schools without properly trained teachers nor maintenance technician.

On poaching at the Tubbataha Reef and non-lactating mothers

Lulli Arroyo, the president’s daughter, personally went down the water tank to release the wrasses back to the waters of Tubbataha to show the Chinese fishing poachers that they must not dare tread on our precious UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Tubbataha reefs. This dramatic show of courage to conserve our World Heritage Site should reverberate to affect the Chinese policy on poaching.

Ines Fernandez is the auditor of the board of Civil Society Network for Education Reforms. She is a specialist on training new mothers on how to breastfeed. Today, most women in their pursuit of careers have difficulty breastfeeding. Stress at work and at home prevent their lactation. This can be so frustrating as mother carries the baby lovingly against her breast, but finds the baby screaming since her milk does not flow. Ines brings a wet nurse with her baby to the "mother and child trainee". They switch babies. The wet nurse will be able to satisfy the "baby trainee’s" quench for milk at the same time teach her how to suck properly. Meantime, the baby of the wet nurse will suck on the "mother trainee’s" breast, thus increasing her flow of milk.

‘Top 10’ topics that media focuses on

Ramon Tuazon, senior vice president of Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication, provided a background information on the "top ten topics (children’s issues)" and the 2006 monthly trend of articles in dailies and radios.

For the Philippine STAR, Philippine Daily Inquirer and Malaya, the #1 topic is sports and fun activities/entertainment, #2 is education and preschool, and #3 is health and nutrition. Topic #1 and #2 is the same for Manila Standard, but their #3 is family matters. For BusinessWorld, topic #2 is the same, but their #1 is health and nutrition, while their #3 is outreach and civic projects. With regards to crime and violence, it is #4 for Philippine STAR and Standard, #6 for Malaya and #7 for Inquirer.

It is noteworthy that the monthly trend of articles on children’s issues for the Philippine STAR is at its highest in June, August and December. It is at its lowest in February, July and October. This high trend holds true for Malaya, except that July is also high. Similarly for Inquirer, it is at its highest in June and December, and low from January until March and again in October and November. For Standard, it is at its highest in May and August, while low from January to April and from September until December.

The radio programme focused on Variety, News and Talk Show. Public Service is only #5. They source information from schools, newspapers, NGOs, field interview and the internet. However, there is no mention of researches using the libraries.

Practical advise on do’s and don’t’s in relation with the media

Anuje brought several materials from Bangkok, among which was the handbook, Media Relations for UNESCO and her partners in education, science, culture and communication. This UNESCO bible on media relations is written by the late Michel Barton, whom I was privileged to work with while I was training as Secretary General in UNESCO Paris.

Michel Barton stated, "Keeping ordinary citizens informed about issues and developments in the fields of culture, education, the sciences and communication is a key part of the UNESCO mandate."

"Two myths about media relations need to be dispelled. The first is that they imply an important financial investment. Nonsense. All that is required is a good story – facts, figures, analysis – distributed in good time to the right people. That takes a certain amount of energy, but very little money. The second myth is that media relations are a complex matter to be handled by specialists only. The truth is that theory in this field would hold in a thimble. What media relations require to be effective is an understanding of how the press and electronic media work, common sense – and practice."

There is enormous interest in the public and media for new data and insights on issues that are UNESCO’s bread and butter, such as cloning and bioethics, oceans and coastlines, education of girls, the digital divide, freedom of the press, teachers’ salaries and working conditions, as well as endangered cultural treasures. "This demand affords UNESCO with constantly renewed opportunities to advertise its concerns and programmes and to irrigate public opinion with its values."

What the public and media hunger for is the issue itself, not about the institution – and even less about its servants.

‘Breaking some eggs’

Addressing often painful social realities, public information that emanates from United Nations agencies cannot please all of the people, all of the time. At times, it leads to controversy and elicit protests. Seeking at all costs to avoid such developments is incompatible with the public information function. It must be accepted that no one has ever produced an omelette – in this case achieving influence over public opinion – without breaking some eggs.

(Next week: Part 2 of a series on What made education exciting for young journalists and editors)

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