CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — In order to deliver a quality, accurate and timely story, the NewsLine Philippines conducted a three-day Technical Writing and Mobile Journalism training to its news correspondents on March 26 to 28, 2021 at Ultra Winds Mountain Resort, located at Baungon town in the province of Bukidnon.
The training was participated by Newsline’s new set of correspondents from the different provinces of Mindanao, namely: Randy I. Patches of North Cotabato; Zorayda Eva Mustaril of Zamboanga del Norte; Divina M. Suson of Iligan City; Michael Navarro of Lanao del Norte, Expedita Roxas of Misamis Occidental, Neptalie Batolenio and Hilario Batolayta, Rigine Clyr Araz of Misamis Oriental; Rhea Montecalvo and Melodina Molejon both from Bukidnon, and was also joined by Davao central bureau office writers, production technicians, cameramen, videographer, graphics artist, namely: Hannie Babes Ferolino, Jiann A. Padillo, Winkle Mae Tabuclao, Benie Boy Angchay, Archie Sumalinog, Jeffrey Gutang and news manager Paul Palacio..
The first day of the session brought Editha Caduaya, the Founder of NewsLine.ph/Newsline Philippines, who introduced the pioneering efforts of NewsLine as she also expressed gratitude for those who took time out for the said training.
Caduaya was personally grateful to have met the correspondents in person, not just behind cameras or phoned-in voice mails. She also gave the floor to the correspondents who shared their respective stories on how they started their careers and the reason behind taking the cudgels of media work as a profession.
On the second day, Caduaya and Paul Palacio, the main anchor for Breakfast News and the News Manager of NewsLine, trained the correspondents on the proper news gathering, scriptwriting and proper reporting techniques.
While the NewsLine technical team also trained the correspondents about the proper way of taking videos especially during field coverages. Caduaya reiterated the importance of knowing the real situation in the community to be able to express and uncover the truth, and, the initiatives by government to address a certain problem.
She encouraged everyone to become the voice of the people.
The seminar also focused on news gathering techniques, newsroom decorum, Newsroom 2020 template, emphasizing on fair, honest and people-centered reporting.
“Always remember to get every side of the story, you are the voice of the people in the community and they expect journalists to write based on the real situation, as we build a culture of safety inside our newsroom, your newsroom is your home, your family and your community — as they all expect us to perform, they dictate what story we carry, we do not dictate what we want from a story. Newsline is your family and we must work in one direction – that is, for our communities,” Caduaya stressed.
All the participants of the said activity expressed their gratefulness to all the people behind NewsLine Philippines, and, promised to do their respective jobs to become good journalists with integrity, in order to achieve the goal of NewsLine, which is “Building Information Highway for the Community”.
NewsLine.ph is a digital news web which caters to people-centered reports. It aims to provide news, information for the community and its people.
It is a start-up project of World Association of Newspapers and Publishers under the program Strengthening Media and Society (SMS).
It was conceived after an awakening seminar, SMS sponsored by WAN-IFRA held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July 2016, to aspiring and big media organizations.
In 2018, Newsline.ph was recognized by WAN-IFRA during the World Publishers Forum, as one of the most aspiring news start-up in Asia and the Pacific. The event was held in Berlin, Germany.
Newsline is part of every training organized by the WAN-IFRA which includes journalists from the 120 countries around the globe.
As it is now, Newsline has 32 correspondents spread all over Mindanao while foreign correspondents are also situated in United Arab Emirates, Canada and Hongkong. It also has collaborative effort among newspapers in the Asia and the Pacific.
Caduaya is the Mindanao Coordinator for the Media Freedom Committee of the WAN-IFRA and the president of Mindanao Independent Press Council Inc. (MIPC Inc.).-Franck Rosete
