“To serve the students” and “to serve the people” are very noble phrases that are easier said than done. I, myself, am guilty of having used these words as mere slogans and expressions of hypocrisy. However, now that I am in the student publication as an editor, I hardly find a moment to say “serve the students” because I have kept myself busy in actually serving them. To me, campus journalism is one way to concretize my will to serve as a student and to define my life’s meaning— the image of myself as a person.
Since elementary, I have been into journalism, but my experiences were never the same. In elementary, I was the editor-in-chief, but I never had the chance to edit. In fact, I was amazed to see articles that I never wrote but with my name on the byline. In high school, it was a new experience. Our paper was bigger and had more pages than what we had in elementary. Still, I was the not-editing-editor-in-chief. We released paper once a year and the rest of the time was spent on trainings in preparation for journalism competitions.
Now, here I am in a college student publication. I became the editor-in-chief after I took a nerve-wrenching examination. Unlike in elementary and in high school, I am finding chances to rest from editing when press work comes. Unlike in elementary and in high school, the size and the number of pages is not anymore a big deal because now, even a one-paged release may become one’s ticket to the court to face charges like libel. Unlike in elementary and in high school, I no longer compete with campus journalists from other schools. Now, I compete with myself to remain strong and steadfast, to attend to my health and to my academic necessities.
My present experience in Atenews is honestly very tough and stressful. This experience opens to me a different world. As a campus journalist, I am endowed with specific responsibilities — specific roles that help develop and distinguish my selfhood. Since I am in a “student publication”, my roles include delivering truthful information to the students, defending their rights and advancing their welfare. However, in the course of actualizing my roles, I have already anticipated the reality that I cannot please everybody. Some people ask me why we keep on writing stories that discuss social issues, about crises, about poverty, about chaos. They say that we should publish articles about events concerning the students, events like fiesta, intramurals, about fashion, about who’s who, etcetera. These, according to some, must be our concern being in a student publication.
I regret to have learned how most of the Ateneans, students, faculty members and administrators alike, value the historical significance of student publications like Atenews. If only they knew, or at least they remembered, that during those dark days of the Marcos dictatorship, the student publications served as the alternative media when all the mainstream media outlets were shut down. In Luzon, The Guidon of the Ateneo de Manila, The Philippine Collegian of the University of the Philippines and the Varsitarian of UST were among the many student publications who actively involved in the movement to attain liberation, to reach one turning point in the history of the Filipino people. In the Visayas, the Weekly Sillimanian of the Silliman University and the Weekly Carolinian of the University of San Carlos were among the strong publications that stood up and fought for the welfare of the people. In Mindanao, our very own Atenews never remained quiet and joined in the historic movement of the people’s democratic struggle. Without the campus journalists, there could have hardly been any way for the people to access information and to express legitimate sentiments against the tyranny.
Sadly, now, the Philippines is still confronted with lots of social imbalances and injustices. Atenews cannot just submit to the culture of silence and escapism because there is a social reality that the people have to know and resolve. This is in line with the thrusts of Ateneo for the Ateneans to become socially involved, to have a faith that moves, and to be men and women for others. As the Atenews’s editor-in-chief, I have to have a sense of history and I cannot simply be a disgrace to those brave Ateneans who paved the way to the advancement of campus press. However, advancing the students’ welfare does not mean that Atenews will no longer publish articles that entertain. We still publish literary folios and features that depict the day-to-day affairs inside the campus, only that the articles must not be detrimental to the development of the critical minds of the Ateneans.
I have barely six months left as the editor-in-chief of Atenews. In my short stay in office, I seemed to have been plunged into a pool of reality outside the walls of my home and my school. My academics has found its rival since I joined in. I have experienced how stressful it is to be summoned and scolded by school administrators. If not of my being an editor of Atenews, I would not have received my first demand letter from a lawyer. In my Atenews experience, I discovered how sweet the tears of sacrifices and service are. Yes, there might be lots of mistakes along the way, and I never forget to take note of these mistakes. There is so much yet to learn. After all, the significance of Atenews in my life is as a venue for development and service, a venue for learning. I would like to quote one Atenews alumnus who now works in a national daily. He said: “We may not be the best writers in the campus, but we are among the few who are brave enough to stand and to speak for the gagged.”
