PAGBABAGO
Ten years ago, an ASEAN regional workshop on journalism curriculum was held in the country. Organized by the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC) and the UNESCO National Commission, the workshop was held in partnership with the Philippine Association of Communication Educators (PACE), the Embassy of Canada, Commission on Higher Education Technical Committee, UP College of Mass Communication, St. Theresa’s College of Cebu, and Philippine Star.
Earlier initiatives included an Experts’ Consultative Meeting on Journalism Education held in Paris in 2008 and two experts’ consultative meetings involving all regions of the world. The draft curricula was formally presented at the 2007 joint meetings in Singapore by the World Journalism Education Congress andAsian Media and Information Center (AMIC).
Already, there was recognition of the tremendous impact of the new information technology. Change was shown in the practice of journalism, specifically in information generation, processing and delivery and exchange. No longer do we talk about print, radio or TV journalism but content, format, and processes. Convergence made it imperative for traditionally trained journalists to collaborate with emergent journalists in cyberspace – bloggers, vloggers, and members of networks. Journalism education must demonstrate a multidisciplinary and inter-sectoral approach in training and content development.
The new model curricula recognizes that journalists and information professionals must be trained to become listeners, mediators, catalysts. They must be able to “triangulate” the views from above, below, and from a variety of sectors. It was also recognized that journalism curricula must operate in a “democratic” environment and within a culture of tolerance and peace. I then equated the process of information handling and transformation to that of a painter handling a brush. The new journalist and painter starts by allowing his values, intuition, passion guide the flow of words or stroke of the brush.
The new curricula is built on these three lines – an axis representing the norms, values, tools, standards; the social, cultural, political economic, legal and ethical aspects within the national borders; and an axis focused on knowledge of the world and the new intellectual challenges.
What then is new? At the second session series of community journalism knowledge sharing held last week, Fr. Benigno Beltran, founder of the Sandiwaan Center of Learning presented how his learning approach based on the convergence model of solidarity (collaboration), integrity (truth, transparency, empathy), and creativity (learning to work with the new media of AI and new information technology), can be tailored for the training of “digital natives.”
Can we build a new approach that is responsive, rights-based, and community-centered in journalism education? The new model, which is based on democratic values and sustainable development, must inspire and ignite the values and mindsets needed to “light the fire,” awaken the learner’s passion and ensure that he/she can become a catalyst of freedom of expression and change in the communities.
The Community Journalism Scholarship Fund, which started this year with six scholars one each from Mindanao State University in Marawi, University of Mindanao in Davao City, Silliman University, Visayas State University, Bicol University, and the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC), participated in the monthly zoom meet by sharing stories of innovations at their respective institutions and communities. The scholarship for two years includes costs for school fees, books and learning materials, internship and mentors’ fees. Scholars were chose on the basis of academic performance need, and leadership criteria. The fund comes from donations and sale of the author’s book (available at all Fully Booked outlets and Solidaridad) as well as art works. ([email protected])