Selling hope

MANILA, Philippines - For someone who comes face to face with the country’s problems on a daily basis, Ana Marie Pamintuan seems quite the optimist. Being the executive editor of the nation’s leading broadsheet, she considers journalism not just a mission of providing accurate, fair and incisive news, but also a business of “selling hope,” whether through her column, Sketches, or the collective message of the paper.

“We may often despair about many things in our country,” she says, “but we are in a position to change that in our own little way.”

This year, Pamintuan wrote in her column, “In the world of aid, you can give till it hurts, and still it will seem like you’re barely scratching the surface.” The same can be said of journalism and the effort to encourage reforms. Since 1986, The STAR has been a steadfast advocate of democracy through responsible news reporting.

Pamintuan says the paper tries to go beyond “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable” (to borrow a phrase from Finley Peter Dunne), beyond exposing anomalies and giving criticism, and instead sends the message that positive change is possible.

Presidents and coups as a way of life

Pamintuan graduated with honors from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, with a degree in Journalism. At the UP Centennial in 2008, she was named an Outstanding Alumna for Journalism by the UP College of Mass Communications.

Her job interview for The STAR, she recalls, was conducted by two of the founders, Betty Go-Belmonte and Art Borjal. Being a reporter covering the judiciary during the retrial of the Aquino-Galman murders, and eventually the presidency of Corazon Aquino, Pamintuan was often where the action was.

“My most memorable assignments involved the coups and Cory Aquino’s presidency. Many dramatic changes took place back then,” Pamintuan says. A few months after covering the presidency of Fidel Ramos, she was promoted to news editor. She became executive editor of the paper in 2002.

Fieldwork took Pamintuan away from the STAR office, though she has vivid memories of what it was like to be part of a new publication at a crucial period in the nation’s history. “We only had eight pages ‘from cover to cover.’ Betty Go-Belmonte believed in not putting out a Sunday issue, so the paper came out only six days a week, and we did not accept advertising in our first year. Everyone was saying The STAR would fold up after a year.” She adds, “But our circulation jumped to 100,000 in our first year.”

Journalism before the age of Twitter

The so-called mosquito press played a crucial role in the fight against the Marcos dictatorship. The restoration of democracy saw the emergence of a reinvigorated free press. The STAR’s slogan on its masthead, “Truth Shall Prevail,” was a reminder of the stifling of press freedom during the dictatorial regime. It may also be a message from our founders, printed every day to remind journalists about why we are here.

“We want to be as responsible as possible,” says the woman who has been with the paper since its first issue. “Ang journalism itself, hindi ’yan nagbabago,” she explains, when asked about how the profession has evolved over the past 25 years. What has changed is the way news is gathered and presented to the public. Pamintuan recalls her days as a reporter when she had to dictate her stories over the telephone. Fax and email were conveniences journalists at the time never imagined they would have.

“Putting out a paper is a lot faster now even if we have more sections. The Business and Lifestyle sections are much bigger now. Our World section has also grown,” she says.

Principles and ethics in journalism, however, remain constant. “The STAR tries to strike a balance, presenting the news in an exciting way without being sensational. It’s a daily struggle and we have made slips along the way,” Pamintuan says.

“Anyone who wants to be in this business for the long term cannot afford to be irresponsible. Your readers will see through you,” she says. “We value our readers’ reactions. Maraming nagagalit, marami ring natutuwa. Both fair and unfair comments help us improve.”

Pamintuan notes that the playing field is rapidly changing with the rise of new media platforms.

“We are watching new technological developments closely, how new media platforms can provide information and their effect on news quality,” she says. “May nawawala sa quality ng reporting with these new platforms. But we also want to be in all platforms as much as possible. Newspapers are still more reliable as sources of news. We have more time to correct our stories, and in the case of opinion writers, our names and faces are right there in our articles. We’re prepared to be sued for what we write.”

Hope springs eternal

Bad news sells, but Pamintuan believes that there should be no shortage of optimism in presenting the news. There is always hope, and not just false hope, she says, that even amid a daily avalanche of bad news, the nation and the world can be a better place.

Her words on being a STAR pioneer echo this sentiment. “I’m proud of the paper. I’m proud of its success and I hope that we have done something good for the country in our small way, to help strengthen democracy and make the country a better place,” she says.