Journos reflect on COVID-19 coverage

CEBU, Philippines — Pandemic or no pandemic, journalists’ pursuit of truth and accuracy in reporting remains.

This according to the three journalists who were the panelists of The FREEMAN’s forum on “COVID-19 a year later: Lessons for Journalism”. They were Caecent Magsumbol of The Freeman, Jan Victor Mateo of The Philippine Star and OneNews.ph, and Nikko Sereno of GMA Regional TV Central and Eastern Visayas.

They said the war on truth has taught them not to back down when people question the truthfulness of news reports and label them as fake.

No matter how often journalists are attacked, they said they will not stop reporting the truth, debunking falsehoods, and exposing disinformation.

Although they admitted that pursuing stories and chasing elusive news sources are among the challenges they face amid the health crisis, aside from the anxiety brought by the pandemic.

Mateo said this pandemic practically changed the landscape of journalism, especially in getting stories.

Instead of going to where the action is, journalists are stuck in their homes, covering virtual press conferences.

Magsumbol, who used to be the paper’s sports reporter, said the transition from sports to main news covering Cebu City Hall and health sector was a bit difficult.

“It was like going back to zero. Getting contacts of news sources, building rapport with them, and learning/familiarizing news writing,” she said.

But she said the hurdles pushed her to persevere.

For his part, Sereño, who contracted COVID-19 in the course of his work, said getting video footages for news production is quite challenging.

Getting the virus did not stop Sereño from doing his job, he had to ask for video footages from news sources and learned to be creative to produce news materials while on home quarantine for two weeks.

Furthermore, Mateo said journalists, either neophyte or veteran, must continue doing research and learn about COVID-19 to deliver factual reports.

They all remain grateful that they still continue doing what they love the most amid the pandemic which is writing and reporting the truth.

They all agreed that despite the proliferation of fake news, the public needs more journalists now to combat the scourge of fake news and disinformation. — KQD (FREEMAN)