Three years since the onset of pandemic, the Union of Journalists of the Philippines - University of the Philippines (UJP-UP) Diliman conducted “Dyaryologue: Journalism Summit 2023” face-to-face at the Bulwagang Tandang Sora, College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD), UP Diliman, May 20.
This year’s Dyaryologue is a one-day journalism workshop for high school students and school paper advisers that highlighted the discussions on four (4) writing categories: news, feature, editorial, and sports writing for 158 participating high school students and school paper advisers in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Super dami kasing high school students ang interested sa Dyaryologue, lagi kaming nakakareceive ng messages from campus paper advisers asking us, ‘So kailan po kayo magkakaroon ng in-person (summit)?’” UJP-UP chair Dominique Flores said.
According to Flores, the journalism summit has a variety of topics every year, but in this edition, they pushed to focus on four main writing categories in journalism with a one-hour lecture each followed by a workshop afterwards.
Speakers of different categories are Kristine Joy Patag, deputy News Editor at Philstar.com for News Writing; Ingrid Delgado, Features and Managing Editor of Tinig ng Plaridel, UP College of Mass Communication’s (CMC) official student publication, for Feature Writing; Karol Ilagan, editor and reporter at the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) for Editorial Writing; and Luisa Morales, Sports Editor at Tinig ng Plaridel and writer at Philstar.com for Sports Writing.
Moreover, UJP Vice Chairperson for Education Luisa Sandoval officially welcomed the participants with a message of hope that young campus journalists will find the true essence of journalism, which is “A Journalism for the people and Journalism that advocates for the truth”.
“Huwag na huwag nating kalimutan 'yung tanong na ‘Para kanino ka nagsusulat?’ Itanong sa sarili iyon bilang peryodista ng bayan,” Sandoval added.
𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀
With the establishment of Dyaryologue as an anniversary celebration for UJP-UP since 2015, the journalism summit has exposed generations of campus journalists to ‘real’ journalism by covering issues within society beyond the tiny expanse of their classrooms.
According to the chairperson, Dyaryologue is supposed to take place every September annually. However, due to massive requests from various school paper organizations, the group decided to organize it again this May, emphasizing its importance for the growth of young journalists.
Every year, the summit follows a theme, with the previous workshop focusing on Investigative and Data Journalism. Although this year’s rendition only focused on the four major disciplines of writing, Flores revealed that they are considering broadcasting and layout designing as possible highlights on the next events.
"Kaya namin kino-conduct ito and we get speakers who are really knowledgeable and experienced sa kanilang bawat categories, ay para maturuan ‘yung mga campus paper advisers ng pagtuturo sa kanila and syempre pati na mismo sa mga high school students na ma-inspire rin sila. In this way (Dyaryologue), we get to introduce them or expose them to journalism [talaga] outside high school which is something we all have to learn,” Flores added.
𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻
According to Flores, this year’s on-ground Dyaryologue is a manifestation of the passion of the high school students in journalistic writing. Face-to-face lectures are more interactive than online lectures, and the students were more active during the question and answer portion at the end of the lectures.
“Mas participative ‘yung mga students pati 'yung mga campus paper advisers. Mas kaya nilang magtanong compared to the webinar. [Sa online] parang nahihirapan din kaming to manage the questions, parang nahihiya pa ‘yung mga tao. Kanina naman may mga nahihiya pa pero after one asked, sunod-sunod na ‘yung iba,” she said.
Flores also emphasized that this on-site summit made them realize that campus journalists just need more avenues like Dyaryologue to learn and showcase their writing skills.
“Our workshops today, a lot of them were into writing, nakita namin na sobrang passionate talaga ng mga students. Kaya nilang mag-write talaga. Need lang nila ng todong workshops para mas mag-improve. So, I think, that’s one thing that we saw unlike online na wala talagang ganoon.”
Owing to the performance of the campus journalists, the journalism workshop ended in a prompt awarding session, recognizing the efforts of three best students per category according to the speakers who led the panel sessions.
Article: Joanna Martinez and Marc Nathaniel Servo
Graphics: Cathlyn Keshel de Raya
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