A treat for teachers; Philippine STAR holds retooling seminar for PUP communication faculty

How do we tie the loose ends betwen academe and industry? This was the question The Philippine STAR tried to answer last Sept. 25 and 26 as it partnered with the Polytechnic University of the Philippines College of Communication (PUP-COC) in retooling faculty members by sharing valuable industry practices in print media.

The program sought to advance the skills of professors who teach various aspects of media, so that their ideas, concepts and developments can be put into perspective. The event aimed to harmonize theory and practice to arrive at innovative teaching strategies inside the classroom.

With the help of The STAR, the program tackled four main aspects of journalism: Investigative Journalism, Photojournalism, News and Feature Writing, and Online Journalism. These aspects are equally important in the process of journalism learning and practice.

Editor Leo Laparan II discussed the process of preparing an investigative piece, citing various examples to enable teachers to think of their own ways to teach the subject. While investigative journalism can be difficult, the sense of unraveling truths in the process is surely a gem to be kept.

“Who else can best give a picture of how the media industry actually works but the media practitioners themselves? The collaboration between The STAR and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines is the theory-meets-practice at best, something that both the school’s College of Communication faculty and students can take advantage of,” he said.

Whatever the faculty members have learned from the discussions will just have to be cascaded onto their students for a more meaningful and realistic application for the latter within the campus,” Laparan added.

Photojournalist Miguel Antonio de Guzman talked about the practice of photojournalism in the country, giving a refresher course on the basics of the profession, the basic rules of captioning, and the importance of rules and codes in the ethical practice of photojournalism.

Metro editor Dulce Sanchez also spoke about news writing and shared her experience of covering various beats before becoming an editor. She also shared tips on covering crime stories and reiterated the importance of digging deeper to uncover the truth.

“In the age of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook Live, print journalists simply have to adapt and skills such as asking questions, fact-checking, scrutinizing paper trails and taking videos of events as they happen are more important than ever to fight the proliferation of fake news,” Sanchez noted.

The STAR’s head of social media, Vberni Regalado, talked about online journalism and how it aids the print industry in delivering media messages. Regalado stressed the importance of being digitally equipped in the modern age.

Aside from this, he also discussed citizen journalism, its importance and the dangers that go with it, and social media as a potent source of data and facts.

In his talk, Regalado emphasized the need to fact-check and analyze the data and information people see online, as readily available online information could be deceiving, as evidenced by the proliferation of and growing concern over fake news.

For PUP College of Communication Dean Edna Bernabe, the Faculty Retooling Program “significantly contributed to the faculty as they have been given updates on the latest trends and issues in mass media especially the emerging media.”

“These new sets of knowledge will be shared to the College of Communication students. The positive effect of this program is enormous, as we look forward for more seminars and lectures not only for faculty but also for students. We look forward to a more meaningful and productive partnership with The Philippine STAR,” she added.

The faculty retooling program is the first project of The STAR and PUP College of Communication under their partnership.