“A Year of Meow”

In the Philippines, to be the áte — “oldest” or “older sister” in English — in the family can be both a blessing and a burden for firstborn Filipinas.

Mabuhay from the Philippines! My name is Maro Enriquez, a 30-year-old freelance journalist and cat mom from Metro Manila. I am both excited and anxious to begin this course, because I would like to believe that writing is one of my strong suits. I am most eager to learn the…

When our instructor, Ma’am Booma Cruz, announced our final project — a 5–10 minuter video story — for our Video Production class, I knew that I would be freaking out at some point. Shooting video has never been my strongest suit. Post-tv work, I think I consciously and unconsciously avoided…

Very much like waiting for that perfect shot to happen, writing — and writing a compelling story at that — is a discipline that takes time, and requires the gift of patience. It also needs the right pieces that would come together flawlessly, in order to arrive at a very…

Producing moving images for news is no easy feat. The beauty of videography relies on its creativity in telling a story, which includes meticulously curated shots achieved through clever framing or camera techniques, and the harmonizing effect that these images have with sound. However, applying these concepts to news production can run the risk of making the news overproduced or overplanned. The efficacy of news, as a fast-paced and ever-changing entity, relies on its element of rawness, of truthfulness and factualness— concepts which, possibly, might be eroded by presenting the public with a very aesthetically pleasing report.

(Group essay by Maro Enriquez, Ron Lopez, and Stephan Uttom Rozario) — In this often dangerous and tiring profession of journalism, seeing your name on your story, photograph, or video always guarantees to pick your spirits up. These media are considered as journalists’ masterpieces; and it’s almost imperative, and sometimes even legally required, to have their names on these at all times. …

It is an irony that a country like the Philippines — home of valiant heroes who fought hard for the country’s freedom and independence — would ever become a danger zone for members of the press. Recent developments in the country have proven that Peter Noorlander’s assessment of the use…

It’s been more than a year since the Covid-19 pandemic began in the country; and yet, the country is still struggling to contain the spread of the virus. Public opinion has become more divided than ever: Half of the Philippine population remains satisfied with the government’s pandemic response, while the…