Two Journalism Anecdotes

By Herbert Vego

ANO ang balita?

What’s the news?

As a guest speaker in a Journalism class. I quoted its briefest definition in the dictionary: “Any previously unknown information.”

I recalled a “history” that was news to me on my first day  as a Journalism student at Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU) in Manila. There walked into our classroom a short, aging, bald and bespectacled man in polo barong.

“Class, I am Professor Angel Anden,” he introduced himself to a seemingly sleepy audience.

To catch our attention, he segued, “I discovered Imelda Romualdez.”

Who would not have paid attention? He had “discovered” Imelda Romualdez Marcos, the First Lady! Gee, that must be interesting.

“I was walking on Aduana Street sometime in 1950 when I met this pretty young lady,” he reminisced. “I was then editor of the defunct This Weekmagazine, and I was looking for our next cover girl. I lost no time proposing.”

To make the long story short, the cover girl in This Week caught the attention of then Manila Mayor Arsenio H. Lacson, who sponsored her bid for the title Miss Manila. She won.

Her name: Imelda Romualdez.

“She also won the heart of then Congressman Ferdinand Marcos,” our professor enthused, hinting that she had played a role in the couple’s destiny.

Anden (now deceased) took the whole hour elaborating on Imelda, who had already become the hottest newsmaker and a part of Philippine history “because of me”.

“You see,” he ended an hour’s lecture. “By looking for news to write, you, too, could make a dream come true — if not your own, somebody else’s. Anywhere you go, as I did – north, east, west or south – there’s a material waiting to be written.”

There was stress in the manner he mentioned the four points of the compass: North, East, West or South. What a coincidence! The combined first letters of the four directions just happened to compose the acronym NEWS.

To a journalist, relaying the news to newspaper readers hardly differs from the verbal answer we get whenever we ask, “Ano ang balita?” Like the proverbial Maritess, the news writer begins by summarizing what it’s all about, as in, “The President has found a girlfriend.”

Readers would be amused to know that news writing as taught in school follows a basic form of delivery – the inverted pyramid, which begins with the most important information and moves down to the least important at the bottom. This format allows the editor to cut the story due to space limitation, or the reader to quit reading without losing the vital details.

The lead – referring to the first paragraph or two – summarizes the whole story in as few words as possible. The conventional or orthodox lead consists of all or most of the five Ws and one H. The Ws answer the questions Who, What, When, Where and Why. The H is for How.

Think about how you tell a story to your friends. You might begin, “Hey, guess who I just saw!” Then you could tell what’s so significant about the subject.

Let me give an example straight from my early days as entertainment-beat reporter of the defunct Daily Express in 1971 when the late entertainment editor, Romeo Arceo, asked me to cover a collision of two cars. Movie stars Nora Aunor and Tirso Cruz III were in a Meercedez Benz. The other car was a Toyota.

I rushed to Sta. Teresita Hospital to cover what would be a front-page story the following day.

I can no longer remember how I did the lead, but it was something like this:

“Film and recording stars Nora Aunor and Tirso Cruz III sustained serious injuries in a car accident on Hemady St., Quezon City 6 pm yesterday.”

I named the two colliding cars.

Early in the morning, the Daily Express sold like hotcakes.  But my editor was not as happy as I had expected because “Toyota threatened to stop advertising with us.”

Mea culpa, I had described one of the cars “crumpled.”

“You know why,” I answered. “That is how it looks on our front page today.”

“Oo nga pala,” my boss agreed. “Yes, we call a spade a spade.”

-oOo-

ANOTHER LADY HOLDS ‘MORE POWER’

Meet Engr. Krizelle Anne C. Corbal, supervisor of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at MORE Electric and Power Corp (MORE Power). Her work has transformed the way the company maps, manages, and optimizes the power-distribution network in Iloilo City.

Since 2020, she has progressed through various engineering roles, continuously expanding her skills and embracing new challenges. Today, she leads GIS development and integration, ensuring data accuracy, asset mapping, and efficient planning for our operations.

One of her key achievements is the digitization of MORE Power’s entire distribution network, providing a clear, bird’s-eye view of assets for better decision-making. She also works closely with fellow engineers to integrate GIS into daily workflows and conducts training sessions to enhance the GIS capabilities of the team. Her expertise is shaping the way MORE Power leverages technology, ensuring greater efficiency and precision in managing our network.

She is one of the many empowered women of MORE Power who are driving change and shaping the future.