Butthurt panic

We all have professions we have worked hard for in the past years. College wasn't a breeze as they told us it would be, most especially internship. I thought that going on-field with a senior reporter would be the highlight of 100 hours of duty; I thought wrong. It was a grueling experience, not to mention it was my first time to see a dead body on the street with a knife through its back. But I love every second of it. That's when I knew that journalism was going to be for me.

I worked hard to create my network, because they say a good journalist always has one. Most of my sources became my friends beyond the workplace and my fellow journalists became my favorite people. I liked working with them. The different beat groups made the experience even more fun. We would have our own inside jokes that only we would understand and the camaraderie was just applauding. We went through rain, the scorching heat, long waits, long talks, and the like.

So to be hit below the belt for a profession studied and toiled for is really uncalled, for especially when there are some elements that the audience have seen. We may be blamed for being "biased" in their eyes, but isn't being on one side biased as it is? Isn't making assumptions and conclusions without citing sources also biased? Then there must be a mix up of wordplay. While truth is subjective, it is important to lay down all sides and let the audience judge for themselves. That is where public opinion is shaped.

But there are also instances when news could agitate the situation and cause panic. However, its treatment could also be attributed to how it was given to them by their sources. Like today, we are faced with a rare case of an Overseas Filipino Worker who was vaccinated but then tested positive for the virus. The vaccine does not guarantee that there will be no infection, but will lower the risks of a more dangerous disease. That is a different story in itself. There are just too many channels today and the liberty to express oneself steps on each other's toes, leaving no room for respect.

If I were to have it another way, I wouldn't trade my life of being a journalist. Some think it is all glitz and glamour but in reality it isn't. We aren't just parroting one source then one another, but critically asking questions to come up with a good story. It is not the reporter's fault if their sources come up short or that they couldn't give an answer with more basis. Then we realize that what the watchdogs are watching are incompetent for their position.

"Don't shoot the messenger," one of my colleagues said. I couldn't state the obvious even more. Without the media blowing up the situation, the cause for the truth wouldn't be revealed. That's how society works, so you would know.