DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/01 May) – Media Education? What is that? How do you interview persons suffering from trauma without having to add to their trauma? How do you report on Persons With Disabilities or on Peace and Environment? What do we need to look out for in the Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) of our officials? What do we need to know about the Bangsamoro peace process? How do we prepare for next year’s national, regional and local elections?
Find out during the 5th Mindanao Summer Institute of Journalism, which offers a series of lectures from May 2 to 19. Initiated by the Mindanao News and Information Center Service Cooperative, the summer institute is in cooperation with the Ateneo de Davao University and the Titus Brandsma Media Center (TBMC), the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), VERA Files, Canadian Embassy, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), University of Mindanao (UM) and Voice of Mindanao.
The summer institute is intended, among others, to help improve the journalists’ reportage of various issues affecting Mindanao; to supplement courses offered by mass communications departments; to provide journalism students and new media practitioners not only with new knowledge and skills but also help steer them towards responsible journalism; and to provide insights and new learnings that teachers, NGO and government workers can share with their students and fellow workers.
This year’s summer offerings, from a minimum of half-day to a maximum of three-day sessions, will feature multi-awarded journalists as lecturers, as well as experts in their respective fields. Venue is at F513G, Finster Hall, Ateneo de Davao University. (Take Recto or Claveria entrance and use the lift or the stairs).
The schedule:
May 2 to 4: Media Education series
Fr. Christian “Toots” Buenafe, O.Carm, TBMC Executive Director, will handle the first day of the three-day Media Education series.
Fr. Buenafe will tackle Introduction to Media Studies. He will discuss Basics of Media Education and Deconstruction of Media Images morning of May 2 and Spirituality and Social Communication in the afternoon.
Angela Blardony Ureta, aO.Carm, a freelance producer/writer/ media consultant/media educator of the TBMC, will discuss Media in Nation-Building and Media and Evangelization on May 3.
Multi-awarded journalist Howie Severino, editor in chief of GMA News Online, will handle Media Advocacy in Multimedia and Media Advocacy in the pursuit of Truth and Empowerment on May 4. Severino was the 2009 Titus Brandsma Awardee for Leadership in Journalism.
Only those who finish the three-day course will be given completion certificates and can qualify as a Titus Brandsma Media Educator, Fr. Buenafe said.
Journalists and journalism/communication students need not pay registration fee. Registration fee for teachers, NGO workers, government information officers and anyone interested in attending is PhP 100.
May 7: Psychological Dimensions of Community Trauma: Implications for Journalists
This session, from 1 to 5 p.m. also at F513G, Finster Hall, will tackle trauma reactions, getting the story from individuals in distress and caring for the journalist’s mental health.
It is intended to help journalists who cover disasters such as floods and landslides and help guide them on how to elicit stories from individuals in distress without having to add to their trauma. It will also help journalists deal with the trauma experienced during such coverages.
The session will be handled by Dr. Gail Ilagan, PhD in Clinical Psychology, a professor at the Ateneo de Davao University, columnist of MindaNews and author of the books, “War Wounded: Combat Stress Sequelae of 10ID soldiers” and “Fly on the Wall” 1 and 2.
May 8-9: Reporting on PWDs
VERA Files founders Yvonne Chua and Luz Rimban, who also teach journalism at the University of the Philippines Mass Communications in Diliman and the Ateneo de Manila University, respectively, will give an Overview of PWDs (Persons with disabilities) in the Philippines, including a discussion on rights of PWDs, and Communicating with PWDs in the morning of May 8. Participants will do fieldwork in the afternoon.
The fieldwork output will be discussed morning of May 9. This will be followed by a session by another VERA Files founder and presently its chair, Ellen Tordesillas, on the portrayal of PWDs.
The PWD training will end noon of May 9.
Chua, Rimban and Tordesillas are also recipients of various journalism awards on investigative journalism, including the Marshall McLuhan Fellowship.
May 10-11: Reporting Peace and Environment
The course aims to strengthen the capacity of Mindanao journalists working for print, online, and broadcast (Radio-TV) media using Peace Journalism (PJ) as an approach in reporting the environment and natural resources and the human and natural consequences of environmental disasters.
The target audience includes journalists at the preliminary stage of the media profession to those at mid-career level who may or may not have covered environment issues and conflicts in Mindanao; and academicians who are handling journalism courses in the bachelor’s degree level.
Key concepts on peace journalism, conflict resolution, conflict-sensitive journalism, cultural considerations and linguistic hospitality are explored, journalists’ role in conflict situations are self-assessed, while past experiences are reviewed. Participants will be given practical exercises in writing, in delivery, and in photojournalism, and will be allowed to assess the options they shall have chosen in the end.
Frencie Carreon of Zamboanga City, editor of PhilSouth Angle and a candidate for PhD in Peace Journalism at The University of Sydney, will handle the two-day session. When she completes her dissertation, Carreon will be the first Mindanawon and Filipino journalist to receive a PhD in Peace Journalism.
May 15: PracTech vs Hi-Tech
Another multi-awarded journalist, Ed Lingao, PCIJ’s Multimedia Director, will handle PracTech (Practical Technology) vs High Technology. Lingao said not everybody can afford IPads or IPods and other expensive gadgets but there are available inexpensive gadgets that can be used in making good multimedia productions.
May 17: Preparing for the 2013 elections
Rowena Carranza-Paraan, secretary-general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, will handle this session on preparing for the national mid-term polls on May 13, 2013.
The filing of certificates of candidacy for next year’s elections is scheduled on October 1 to 5. Up for elections are 12 senators; governors, city and town mayors and members of their local legislative bodies; and the governor, vice governor and members of the Regional Legislative Assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Other courses
PCIJ’s Executive Director Malou Mangahas will discuss “Do the SALN salsa” at a date to be announced later. Also to be announced is the date for Reporting the Bangsamoro Peace Process by MindaNews’ Carolyn O. Arguillas.
The venue for the sessions mentioned above will be the Ateneo de Davao University.
Courses that will be offered at the University of Mindanao are basic newswriting, basic photography, online publishing, narrative journalism, film appreciation and radio production. The schedule for these courses and the names of lecturers will be announced later.
Journalists, journalism students and campus writers in high school and college are urged to attend the Summer Institute, for free. But slots are limited so those who are interested should immediately e-mail mindanews.msij@gmail.com, call Ellen at (082) 2974360 or text 09285517750 for reservation and registration details.
Journalism and communications teachers, information officers of non-governmental organizations and government institutions and anyone interested in media may also attend but some courses may require a reasonable registration fee. (MindaNews)