UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES Bachelor of Arts in

UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism
Jon Lindley Celestial Agustin
Myra Arca Cabujat
Tales that moved the nation:
A glimpse of literary journalism in the Philippines from 1972 to 2012
Thesis Adviser:
Professor Marichu Lambino
College of Mass Communication
University of the Philippines Diliman
Date of Submission
April 2013
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ii
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________________________
Jon Lindley Agustin
April 2013
______________________
Myra Cabujat
April 2013
iii
TALES THAT MOVED THE NATION:
A GLIMPSE OF LITERARY JOURNALISM IN THE PHILIPPINES
FROM 1972 TO 2012
by
JON LINDLEY CELESTIAL AGUSTIN
MYRA ARCA CABUJAT
has been accepted for
the degree of BACHELOR OF ARS in JOURNALISM
by
Professor Marichu Lambino
and approved for the
University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication
by
Dr. Roland B. Tolentino
Dean, College of Mass Communication
iv
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
PERSONAL DATA
Name
Permanent Address
City
Telephone Number
Jon Lindley C. Agustin
32 Makban Street, Napocor Village, Tandang Sora, Quezon
Email Address
(02) 9384230
09154935786
jonlindley_agustin@yahoo.com
EDUCATION
Secondary Level
Primary Level
Class Salutatorian, New Era University, Quezon City
Diliman Preparatory School-Novaliches, Quezon City
ORGANIZATIONS
Tinig ng Plaridel, Associate Editor (2012-2013),
Opinion Editor (2011-2012), Staff Writer (2010-2011)
UP Journalism Club, Alumni Relations Committee
Member (2012-2013), Vice-President for Academic Affairs
(2011-2012), Academic Committee Member (2010-2011)
UP Circulo Hispanico, Special Events Committee Member
WORK EXPERIENCE
Student Intern, GMA News Online (April to May 2012)
ACHIVEMENTS
University Scholar, 4 semesters
College Scholar, 2 semesters
v
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
PERSONAL DATA
Name
Permanent Address
Telephone Number
Email Address
EDUCATION
Secondary Level
Primary Level
Myra A. Cabujat
Unit 305, #4580 Lilac St., SSS Village, Marikina City
09358222985
mhaicabujat@gmail.com
Valedictorian, Mayamot National High School, Antipolo
City
Salutatorian, Mayamot Elementary School, Antipolo City
ORGANIZATIONS
Journalism Representative, UP CMC Student Council AY
2012-2013
UP Journalism Club, Alumni Relations Committee member
(2012-2013), External Affairs Committee member (20112012, 2010-2011, 2009-2010)
Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic
Rights in UP – College of Mass Communication (STAND
UP – CMC), member (2012 – present)
Gabriela Youth – UP Diliman, member (2011 – present)
WORK EXPERIENCE
Student Intern, Center for Media Freedom and
Responsibility (March – May 2012)
In-house writer, Philippine Online Chronicles (June –
December 2011)
ACHIVEMENTS
College Scholar, 2 semesters
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This thesis will not be a success without the help of these awesome people.
First, to our thesis adviser, Atty. Marichu Lambino, and her all-out support and
insightful comments and suggestions in our thesis;
To Dr. Reynaldo Guioguio, our J 199 adviser, who helped us develop the idea of
working on literary journalism as our thesis. His own experiences as literary journalist
contributed to our research so much;
To Ate Raquel Bacarra, our beloved department secretary, who served as
“middleperson” between us and the department.
To the rest of the Journalism faculty who approved our thesis topic in its initial
stages;
To the UP Journalism Club, the organization that exposed us to what journalism
is; Without all the experiences that we had in this organization, as well as the undying
moral support of our orgmates and friends, we will not be motivated to finish this thesis;
To our other organizations: STAND UP – CMC, Tinig ng Plaridel, UP Christian
Brotherhood International, UP Circulo Hispanico, and Gabriela Youth – UP Diliman, for
their support in our thesis endeavors;
To the CMC Library and the UP Main Library that never failed to give us the
resources that we needed for this research;
To all our interviewees, who spared some of their precious time just to entertain
our interview requests and share their experiences and insights, both serious and
humorous, on literary journalism;
vii
To Agustin Family and Cabujat Family, who were always there to support us with
our thesis, both morally and financially;
To Jodi Bustos, who either send us messages of support or call one of the authors
of this work just to tell him never give up;
To Toby Roca, who was always there to remind us not to give up, who always
asked us “kumusta na thesis nyo?”, and, like the rest, never stopped showing his all-out
support to us and our thesis despite him facing his own academic and personal endeavors;
To the Almighty God, who served as our inspiration and a reminder that we can
do all of these;
To those that we mention and to those we did not…
Thank you so much.
Without all of you, we will not be able to get to writing this part of the thesis. Our
sincerest thanks to each and everyone of you.
viii
To young writers who believe that
literary journalism is still alive,
and tell stories that move the nation
ix
ABSTRACT
Agustin, J. L. & Cabujat, M. (2013). Tales That Moved The Nation: A Glimpse Of
Literary Journalism In The Philippines from 1972 To 2012. (Unpublished undergraduate
thesis). University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication, Diliman, Quezon
City
Journalism is not just confined to informing the public. It also aims for the
shaping of public opinion. Good journalism must be able to present stories effectively.
Before even conventional news styles came into existence, the style of journalists then
were narrative, descriptive, and even persuasive with the articles in long form. This style
is called literary journalism, started by Nick Joaquin in the Philippines. The researchers
see the potential of literary journalism pieces on influencing public opinion. But
challenges to its subsistence, i.e. shorter and more concise stories, online journalism, and
the new media, have hampered its objective.
This research was made in reference to an earlier UP CMC thesis on literary
journalism from 1950s to 1980s, written by Dewey Joseph Yap. He concluded in his
study that literary journalism died as the 1980s drew to a close. Through interviews and
content analysis, this research was able to establish the fact that literary journalism
continued to flourish throughout the years. This research was able to explore the state of
literary journalism after the 1986 EDSA People Power, exposing how literary journalism
changed in scope and form, which reflects the social events in the in each decade we
analyzed.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
i
University Permission Page
ii
Approval Sheet
iii
Biographical Data
iv
Acknowledgements
vi
Abstract
ix
Table of Contents
X
I. Introduction
1
II. Problem Statement
4
III. Objectives of the Study
5
IV. Review of Related Literature
7
A. Brief narrative history of literary journalism
7
B. Journalism and literature
8
C. Fading and transformation: literary journalism today
10
V. Study frameworks
13
VI. Methodology
18
A. Research design
18
B. Concepts and indicators
20
a. Approach and point-of-view
21
xi
b. Tone and voice
22
c. Structure
23
d. Rhetorical techniques
24
e. Character
25
C. Research instruments
26
D. Sampling
26
E. Data gathering
27
F. Data analysis
27
G. Scope and limitation
28
H. Timetable
28
VII. Results and Discussion
A. An overview on the beginnings and the golden ages of Philippine literary
30
30
journalism
B. Literary journalism from 1972 to 1982 and censorship
33
C. Literary journalism from 1982 to 1992
39
D. Literary journalism from 1992 to 2002
50
E. Literary journalism from 2002 to 2012
59
F. New forms of literary journalism and challenges
64
G. Effects of literary journalism according to the writers
74
H. A different kind of storytelling
75
VIII. Conclusion
80
xii
IX. Implications and Recommendation
82
Bibliography
86
Appendices
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
Way back in the 1950s, a new kind of journalism was born. In this one, narrative
elements of a literary work were incorporated in news reports, breaking the then
conventions of straight news reporting. This was called literary journalism.
In the Philippines, literary journalism flourished during the “First Quarter Storm,”
a period of unrest from January to March 1970. Journalists used literary journalism to
address their dissent to the Marcos dictatorship. They even utilized this kind of
journalistic reporting during martial law, wherein media had been suppressed and anyone
who opposed the ruling administration got killed or arrested. Literary journalism helped
journalists get around the censors of the Marcos administration and continue writing
critical articles against his government.
There were accounts that literary journalism died after martial law due to the
prominence of television. However, some journalistic pieces nowadays incorporate
narratives to tell the story. There are feature articles and documentaries that appealed to
its readers due to the way those were written or presented - the use of literary writing
styles. So the question now is whether literary journalism really died or not. And if it is
the latter, then what happened to literary journalism after the martial law, when it was
said to decline?
The research aims to find out the history of literary journalism and how it was
used during the martial law. Moreover, the research also aims to explore the state of
literary journalism beyond the Marcos dictatorship in 1986.
2
From its inception in the West, literary journalism penetrated the Philippines as
early as 1950s (Yap, 2004). It had its beginnings from the attempts of Kerima Polotan
and Nick Joaquin to merge literature and journalism in the early to mid-1950s. It took
shape as a new creative form in the 1960s because the public had become receptive to
this type of reportage that went beyond the five Ws and one H of straight news writing.
Martial law has reduced the vigor and intensity of all journalism (Yap, 2004).
After the first EDSA Revolution in 1986, however, the state of literary journalism was
said to decline. David Joseph Yap (2004), in his thesis, concluded that the decline was
due to the rising prominence of television in the 1990s, making people switch medium
from print to broadcast. This development caused the number of readers of newspapers
and magazines to drop.
However, the state of literary journalism was not fully explored after martial law.
There are few accounts (if not none at all) about it during the 1990s up to present. Also,
some journalists still apply narrative elements in writing their stories. For instance, a
travel writer or a documentarist tells his/her story by narrating his/her own experience.
Because of this, the notion that literary journalism “died” does not seem to be
true.
Exploring literary journalism is very important when it comes to knowing the
state of journalism in the Philippines. A journalism student will understand that state
better if s/he knows the history of a journalistic phenomenon. Literary journalism played
3
a huge part in fighting for press freedom during the 1970s and 1980s, and budding media
practitioners should be aware of that.
Aside from that, it is also important to know what happened to literary journalism
after martial law. As said earlier, there are only very few accounts on literary journalism,
especially during the 1990s and at present. A research on a topic not fully explored by
previous works will help future journalists fully understand what journalism is in the
country.
The researchers conducted key interviews for the study. The interviewees varied
from journalists during martial law to journalists at present who incorporate literary
elements in their stories. Their responses in these interviews created a clearer picture of
the state of literary journalism in the country.
Aside from interviews, a content analysis on selected journalistic works was also
conducted. These works varied from those published during the martial law to presentday journalistic pieces. A very important factor for the selection of these articles was the
use of literary elements in these stories. Through content analysis, the researchers were
able to find out how journalists used literary journalism for their works.
CHAPTER II. PROBLEM STATEMENT
The research aims to answer the question “what is the state of literary journalism
from 1972 up to 2012?” This problem statement will explain the transformation of
literary journalism from the time Marcos declared martial law up to present. How did
literary journalism affect public awareness and consciousness during those time periods?
How did journalists use narrative elements for their reportage?
The research first explored the state and influence of literary journalism during
martial law. What motivated journalists to use literary elements in their writings? How
did it survive the censorship imposed by the ruling administration? How did it shape
public opinion during those times, when citizens outraged and called for Marcos’ouster?
Upon tracing its past state, the research found out the condition of literary
journalism after the People Power. What happened to literary journalism, which is
dominant in print, after the first EDSA Revolution, wherein other media forms started to
flourish? Did it really die, or did it just change its form? How did it shape public opinion
from the post-EDSA era up to the present?
CHAPTER III. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
A. General Objective
The study aims to document the history of literary journalism in the Philippines
from 1972 up to 2012, to uncover the reasons behind its decline, to see how it has
changed to new forms today, and to see its recent impact on public awareness via the
students of the University of the Philippines today.
B. Specific Objectives
In achieving our general objective, the researchers aim:
●
To find out when and how literary journalism penetrated the Philippines
●
To trace the beginnings of literary journalism in the Philippines and what factors lead
to its flourishing in the 1960s and 1970s
●
To determine which media and forms literary journalism existed from 1972 to 2012
●
To find out how literary journalism changed its forms and styles from 1972 to 2012
●
To know how literary journalism was used as a tool to address dissent to the Marcos
regime
●
To recognize its practitioners from 1972 to 2012 and their motivation behind writing
under this style
●
To know the challenges faced by this style of writing today with the emergence of
online journalism
●
To find out whether there are changes in this style of writing today
6
●
To explore ways on how this style of writing will adapt in the new millennium and
prospects on its “revival” midst speed reporting and digital technology
●
To know who reads literary journalism pieces and what effects they give to readers
today
●
●
To know if and why they have transformed and been published and seen today in:
○
Broadcast media
○
Magazines
○
Online media
○
Newspapers
To see if there are new purposes of literary journalism from writing about dissent to
its social purpose today
CHAPTER IV. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Brief narrative history of literary journalism
The beginning of literary journalism can be traced back from the 19th century in
the United States and Europe. This movement, characterized by common, monotonous,
and ordinary news writing style of writers, had been partially fueled by a cultural need to
know and understand the rapidly changing world (Connery, 1990). According to
Connery, literary journalism tends not to simply present the facts but the “feel” of the
facts, and that such writing, a form of prose, enables one to comprehend reality better.
Literary journalism, then referred to as “New Journalism,” found traces during the
mid- and late-1800s with author Robert Park referring the advent of “penny press” as new
journalism. The appearance of the yellow press which used sensational headlines led
journalists and historians to consider it as new journalism.
The style arose with the 19th century reviews such as the Edinburgh Review in
1802, the Westminster Review in 1824, and the Democratic Review in 1837, among
others (Myers, 2012). During these times, the form of literary journalism was only found
in in-depth stories, editorials, and columns. How and when the term “new journalism”
began to refer as a genre has not been clear (Murphy, 1974). According to Tom Wolfe, an
author and advocate of the style, his first acquaintance with literary journalism was from
a 1962 Esquire article by Gay Talese titled “Joe Louis at Fifty.” He said it was not a
magazine at all but a short story with a beginning and conflict.
8
During the 60s and 70s, the style proliferated even more with works of Truman
Capote, Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, and Gay Talese. The style also penetrated the
Philippines as early as 1950s spearheaded by Nick Joaquin and Jose Fernando Lacaba
among others.
B. Journalism and literature
The emergence of literary journalism has also confused writers, journalists, and
critics alike where the line between journalism and literature, two distinct fields, is
gradually being blurred.
“New Journalism offered a double dare to the establishments of Journalism and
Literature. It challenged the authority of Journalism’s empire of facts, and the sanctity of
Literature’s garden of imagination.” (Pauly, 1990)
Earlier critics see literary journalism as a superior representation of reality
mounted on deep truth while recent critics read it as a “clever deconstruction of its own
claims to authority.”
Joaquin, who wrote pieces under a nom-de-guerre of Quijano de Manila said in
one of his speeches that every report in journalism must be done as if the writer is
retelling the parting of the Red Sea, or the Battle of Pinaglabanan, or the splitting of the
atom. He said good reportage is telling it as it is but at the same time “telling it new,
surprising, and significant.”
9
Telling a story in the author’s own way and perspective may bring it away from
one of the basic tenets of journalism: objectivity. According to author Norman Sims, a
storm of criticism swept in the 1960s and 1970s surrounding literary journalism which
challenged the concept of objective reporting.
“Most of us share a belief that objectivity is not the heartbeat of nonfiction. If we
actually verified the facts we read, there would be few problems with objectivity,” Sims
wrote. “Literary theorist Wolfgang Iser has suggested, correctly I think, that we do not
verify what we read even when it is within out power to do so.”
Policies and practices of editors, writers, reporters, advertisers, and publishers
limit freedom of the press. Such reality leads many, including journalists, to doubt
whether objectivity is at all possible in journalism, hence the term “advocacy
journalism.” According to the book by Sims, in the libertarian press of the United States,
many studies have been conducted to show that bias nevertheless exists in American
newspapers.
Advocacy journalism came under attack during the martial law. On September 25,
the Department of Public Information issued two orders. One of them stipulated that all
media publications were to be cleared first by the DPI and that the mass media shall
publish objective news reports, whether local or foreign source. No editorial comment
shall be permitted. Extraneous materials are not to be inserted in any news item (Ofreneo,
1984).
10
C. Fading and transformation: Literary journalism today
The martial law years were a time when literary journalism slipped down from its
golden age in the 1960s. While it was influenced by American journalism, the Marcos
government has had a love-hate relationship with what it calls the “Western press,”
occasionally taking umbrage when unfavorable publicity about the regime is beamed
worldwide, Ofreneo added.
According to the study by Dewey Joseph Yap in 2004, there are factors that
influenced the deterioration of literary journalism in the 1980s. One was the lessening
popularity of the print media while television supplanted the newspapers and magazines
for the public’s information and entertainment needs. Another was the lack of viability of
going full-time into writing.
Nevertheless, Yap said literary journalism still deserves space and prominence in
today’s print media. Today, there are few literary journalism pieces in mainstream
newspapers. Though it peaked from 1960 until about 1974, Sims said the form declined
in the face of direct criticism.
“Today, the space for feature writing is shrinking. Fewer publications are
willing to run long-form writing, and when they do, the pieces have much
lower word counts than 20 years ago. While 6,000- and 7,000-word stories
still appear, they are the exception rather than the norm.” (Ladly, 2010)
However, some authors and journalists believe that it is only transformed in
various other forms, rather than subsided. Now, narrative journalism can be found in
11
forms such as immersion reporting, complicated structures in the prose, and attention to
the symbolic realities of the story.
The world wide web also offered new areas and opportunities for literary
journalism or narrative journalism. Technology has been a preoccupation in the literary
environment for two decades (Royal, 2000). In her paper titled “The Future of Literary
Journalism on the Internet,” she said the Internet can provide opportunities for creative
expression, universal access, and reduced barriers to publication that are attractive in the
literary environment. One technique is the concept of hyperlinking which offers unique
advantages over print with the writer taking control of the presentation of material
outside the realm of the printed page by creating bits and chunks of information whether
by scene or chapter. While the print environment can offer variations in tone, the Web
can also offer the ability to change fonts, font color, and font size.
“The author can also use the internet to extend the voice of the story. A website
can encourage readers to submit their own narratives on the subject to the site for
inclusion,” she said. “Also, the interactive elements of the Internet can allow readers to
inject their own subjectivity into the debate. Chat rooms and discussion groups can be
provided to further discuss an issue or to debate an author’s position or biases.”
Literary journalism in the Philippines can now be seen in many human interest
documentaries, alternative media, and in some magazines. Journalists who practice the
new form of the craft include Jessica Zafra, Patricia Evangelista, Abner Mercado, and
Kara David, among others.
12
There is an interesting article by David Abrahamson entitled “Literary Journalism:
Perspectives and Prospects” which tackled the potential of literary journalism of shaping
public consciousness and world views (Abrahamson, 2011). He said literary journalism
has the potential for profound long-term, even world historical effects, and it can
influence. With this in mind, it seems only appropriate to say that literary journalism can
both shape and reflect larger social, cultural, and political currents.
CHAPTER V. STUDY FRAMEWORKS
Conceptual and Operational Framework
The appearance and surfacing of a new style of writing in the form of literary
journalism, otherwise known as “new journalism,” creative non-fiction, and narrative
journalism, have become an innovation for different institutions in the Philippines.
In a book by historian Arthur Lovejoy titled “The Great Chain of Being: A Study
of the History of an Idea,” he mentioned that each era, age, or epoch “seems to evolve
new species of reasoning and conclusions, even though upon the same old problems.”
Lovejoy coined the term “history of idea” as an approach in studying history. In
his book, he divided history into bulks of happenings sharing similar ideas such as: the
genesis of an idea in Greek philosophy, internal conflicts in the Medieval age, plenitude,
man’s place and role in nature during the 18th century, 18th century optimism, and
Romanticist plenitude.
From these, he was able to deduce the following concepts:
●
There are implicit or incompletely explicit assumptions or unconscious mental habits
operating in the thought of an individual or a generation
●
These endemic assumptions or intellectual habits are of so general and so vague that
it is possible for them to influence the course of man’s reflections on almost any
subject
●
There are different levels of susceptibility of people to ideas
14
●
Any unit-idea which the historian thus isolates he next seeks to trace through more
than one of the provinces of history in which it figures in any important degree
●
The history of ideas expresses a protest against the consequences which have often
resulted from the conventional records of literature and historical studies
●
Another characteristic of the study of the history of ideas is that it is especially
concerned with the manifestations of specific unit-ideas in the collective thought of
large groups of persons, not merely in the insights of small groups
●
It is part of the task of the history of ideas to apply its own distinctive analytic method
to understand new beliefs and intellectual fashions are introduced and diffused, and
how they let go of ideas and give way for others
Ideas are concepts and beliefs that are held to cause actions or events to occur.
They give rise to political, religious, and economic movements.
Literary journalism is an idea, a new idea then during those times. It is interesting
to note how Lovejoy’s study which was done in the early 20th century is still applicable to
studies of today. Basing from his concepts, literary journalism operated in the thoughts
and consciousness of different people changing the way they view things as brought by
the storytelling approach of the style. Literary journalism has somewhat also influenced
the course of man/woman’s reflections on subjects may it be political, social, or cultural.
Similarly though, there are different levels of people’s susceptibility on the idea of
literary journalism which may also be the reason of the fading of the original styles of
literary journalism and its transformation to other forms.
15
Literary journalism also is a “protest” against conventions, and for it to become an
idea, it has to be recognized not just of a small population but a large group of people.
From our review of related literature, it did.
Like Lovejoy, the researchers divided the study framework into four time frames.
Each time frame has its own general idea which attaches itself to the central idea of
literary journalism as an agent for the shaping of public consciousness. Aside from its
effects, each time frame also contains common ideas by which literary journalism pieces
are written in different styles and different topic focused on.
The first time frame encapsulates the events, the issues (social, political, cultural,
etc.), and the style linked to literary journalism in one general idea. The researchers
called it “The First Decade (1972-1982): The Critical Years.”
We named it thus as this decade marked one of the tumultuous periods in
Philippine history, the martial law, probably a time of conflicts, pressures, and pains after
the revolution against the Spanish forces during the past century. The pressures put by the
martial law have challenged journalists to explore alternative ways of expressing
thoughts and opinion without being restrained by government forces. When some
newspapers, television stations, and radio stations were shut down, some writers
succumbed to the measures of the government while others seeped into underground
reporting and explored new ways of sending their message to the public. Freedom of
expression may have “died” during this time but the attempts of reviving it never did. The
martial law period, more than a threat, became a challenge for writers to express
themselves and make people understand issues midst censorship in a more poetic, subtle
16
way. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why literary journalism pieces continued to
survive martial law censorship.
The next idea focuses on the second decade (1982-1992) we call the “Revival of
Democracy.” As differed from the first decade, the events, issues, and style of writing
during this time were altogether different. Because the people have seemed to see the
coming of a new dawn, papers were less critical than during the martial law period and
more celebratory of the revival of democracy. Many pieces expressed fear of another
martial law and hoped that the democracy would last until so long.
Consequently, with the presidency of Corazon Aquino, which undeniable posed
continuous and unsolved problems, journalists have also began to criticize the
administration and doubt whether it was true democracy the people had in the hands then.
The last of years of the decade and the beginning of a new one saw
transformations in different aspects of society: from the economy, politics, to mass
media.
Thus, we coined “Shifts in Mass Media” transpiring during the third decade
(1992-2002), newspapers and magazines began to be challenged by the emergence of a
more “exciting” way of obtaining information: hearing – and watching - news as they
happened on television. Gradually, people got tired of reading lengthy articles and stories
from newspapers and magazines and preferred getting the news in a much quicker way.
Television also paved the way to the coming of documentaries, feature reports,
special reports, and documentary films that seek to literally show the viewer the story in a
17
visual way more than the working of the readers’ imagination while reading a literary
journalism piece on print. The viewer was placed in the perspective of a watcher or an
observer being fed by facts and later on left to realize, contemplate, and conclude. During
this time, it appeared as if literary journalism has ended.
The last decade of our study is from 2002-2012 we named as “The Age of
Cyberspace.” During this time, people even found a better and quicker way of obtaining
news, though online where news are fed in real-time as it gets updated when a new angle
or story appears, and where they can literally participate in the discussion thus fulfilling
the concept of news forming public opinion.
Then where has literary journalism situated itself? This decade only posed more
challenges in the existence of literary journalism which has never ended but took new
forms. With online journalism posing threats to television and radio as well, television,
radio and print all strived for survival. While very few literary journalism pieces
remained on print nowadays apart from the writings of Conrado de Quiros, Jessica Zafra,
and Patricia Evangelista, literary journalism found its niche on television through
documentaries and special reports, which were even better than those during the “third
decade.”
Who wouldn’t forget alternative journalism which strives to tell stories left behind
and stories untold by mainstream journalism? Literary journalism also took shape on
alternative journalism either on print or online.
CHAPTER VI. METHODOLOGY
A. Research Design
Tracking down the history of literary journalism and differentiating the pieces
through time, the researchers utilizes different methods of research.
For the history of literary journalism, we conducted focus one-on-one interviews
with journalists who practiced or have been practicing literary techniques during the
aforementioned time periods, apart from researches from books and online sources. The
focus interviews allowed us to uncover historical events from personal accounts of the
subjects without sacrificing utmost subjectivity because of written and existing historical
accounts, books, and studies. One-on-one interviews allowed for a multi-perspective take
on the issues and concepts and examine history from personal accounts.
The approach, however, was placed in proper context by considering historical
documents available though should not overpower the information taken from the
interviews.
The researchers expected to achieve from the interviews the following: (1) the
oral history of literary journalism in the Philippines; (2) the differences between
approaches in writing in various time periods; (3) the emergence of literary journalism
and its penetration in the Philippines; (4) how literary journalists during the martial law
survived censorship and prohibition; (5) new forms of literary journalism today as well as
the challenges; and (6) their insights on how literary journalism shape public
consciousness and awareness.
19
Also for the history of literary journalism, we conducted a qualitative content
analysis of a selection of literary journalism pieces in equal number for each decade:
1972-1982; 1982-1992; 1992-2002; and 2002-2012.
The researchers made sure that there was considerably sufficient number of
literary journalism pieces chosen per time period and per year. We browsed through
publications popular for their narrative journalism pieces, i.e. Philippine Graphic,
Philippines Free Press, and Asia Philippine Leader. The researchers also did not fail to
look at recent pieces from columns of literary journalists.
Based from Dr. Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo’s definition of literary journalism or
creative non-fiction, as well as how they are distinguished from conventional journalistic
pieces, we chose at least one work per year. In some years, more than one piece were
chosen mainly because of the significance of an event such as the Mount Pinatubo
eruption – the pieces on which were dramatic – as well as the quality of the work.
The researchers also conducted documentary entries. We chose one documentary
feature from selected television shows, i.e. Krusada (ABS-CBN), Storyline (ABS-CBN),
Reel Time (GMA), Front Row (GMA), and iWitness: The GMA Documentaries (GMA).
The content analysis, as much as the focus interviews, was taken in proper context
with existing historical documents available, as well as narrative techniques available
from comparative literature sources.
For the pieces published on print, we analyzed their titles, topics, leads, and
contents focusing on the approach or the angle used by the writer, the point of view, the
20
author’s tone and voice, the story’s structure (with categories enumerated by Hidalgo),
rhetorical techniques (also enumerated by Hidalgo), how the characters were presented,
and the how to stories were ended.
For the pieces aired on television, roughly the same pattern was used, except for
adding how the stories were ended visually, apart from the narrative style used by the
writer.
The researchers aimed to achieve the following through content analysis, with
results compared: (1) the transition from conventional writing to writing using literary
techniques; (2) the style and technique; (3) its adherence to or deviance from the narrative
technique suggested by creative non-fiction writing; (4) the differences in style in various
time periods; and (5) how the medium affected the narrative.
B. Concepts and Indicators
Analyzing the variety of articles, stories, and documentaries coming from
different authors, it was at first difficult to label the pieces collectively according to the
techniques used, as different authors would have different styles. But zooming out and
looking at the larger picture, we realized that there were commonalities among the stories
in terms of techniques, which even strengthened the point of being held collectively per
time period, of not per decade.
These were evaluated qualitatively by basing our parameters from Hidalgo’s book
titled Creative Nonfiction: A Manual for Filipino Writers.
21
a.
Approach and Point-of-View
According to Hidalgo, approach has to do with how a writer handles his
subject using an angle. As differentiated from the usual reportage which only uses
minimal variety to a single approach, that is, objective, literary journalism’s approach
may either be subjective or objective or both. It is the writer who decides which
approach to use and it is influenced by the circumstances of the writer (Hidalgo,
2003), the seriousness of the topic, and the editorial policies of the publication.
In the case of documentaries, angles can be best determined with the shots, the
footages, arrangement of videos, and interviews with the subjects, apart from the
wordings used by the author. Usually, video documentaries would tend to have an
angle set by the narrator rather than the subjects themselves.
However, we analyzed some documentaries which only relied on interviews
and footages, without the presence of a narrator speaking on the background. This
added to the objectivity of the pieces.
Sometimes, a piece seems to be written objectively because no narrator is
immediately identifiable, Hidalgo said. Approach may also refer to angle or handle,
the author’s “take” on the subject.
Approach has always been linked to point-of-view, which answers the
questions, “Whose story is this?,” “Who can best tell it?,” and “What is the relation of
the point-of-view character to the events narrated?” (Hidalgo, 2003)
22
According to her, the narrator may be either a participant or an observer.
TeodoroLocsin, Sr.’s stories always put him as a participant while most of the
documentaries produced by Reel Time and Front Row shy away the narrator, if there
is indeed one.
Writers of creative nonfiction usually use the first person or the third person.
Occasionally, the writer may opt to use the second person by drawing the reader into
the story, creating the impression that he or she is actually part of the narrative.
b.
Tone and Voice
Also linked to approach and point-of-view is tone which Hidalgo referred to
as the writer’s attitude toward his subject through his or her choice of words. Voice is
related to tone and style, which Hidalgo said is very difficult to define. Voice refers to
certain qualities in the text such as choice of words, length of sentences, and the use
of images, metaphors, allusions, etc.
Different writers have different tones and voice. At some points, they are
consistent in all their works such as those of Locsin and Luis Teodoro. Sometimes,
the tones and voices vary according to the topic which Alfred Yuson is good at – he
can be serious and funny, or both at times.
23
c.
Structure
As much as a conventional reportage follows as structure to relay its major news
points well, literary journalism pieces give much importance to the organization of ideas
in order to persuade the readers to believe in what the author is saying.
According to Hidalgo, organization is as important in creative non-fiction as it is
in fiction. She mentioned a scholar who said: “The right structure will take you where
you need to go. Someone likened the magazine article to a moving van, a conveyance
with much room to hold things which nevertheless has to be packed just right. A
conveyance with a place to go and a reason to get there. Structuring means packing
properly and heading the article in the right direction.”
Our coding guide plugged in categories on which type of structure the article
followed, still according to Hidalgo. They are: (1) the chronological structure or the
arrangement of events in a linear fashion, as they occurred in time; (2) the explanationof-a-process structure with the purpose to instruct; (3) the flashback structure; (4) the
parallel structure which has several stories, running side by side with occasional crosscutting or convergence; (5) the collage or mosaic structure or pasting together fragments
which build up a total picture; (6) the diary or logbook structure; (7) the question-andanswer structure, a structure perfect for interview stories and; (8) the frame, or storywithin-a-story structure or the stitching of two completely different stories.
The researchers were given the freedom to cite other structures not included in
Hidalgo’s list.
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d.
Rhetorical Techniques
An author may arrange the facts well but the story wouldn’t be as effective if he
or she fails to make the readers understand the ideas. This is done through rhetoric.
Gerard Hauser in his Introduction to Rhetorical Theory (1986) defined rhetoric as: “an
instrumental use of language…. One person engages another person in an exchange of
symbols to accomplish some goal. It is not communication for communication's sake.
Rhetoric is communication that attempts to coordinate social action. For this reason,
rhetorical communication is explicitly pragmatic. Its goal is to influence human choices
on specific matters that require immediate attention.”
The researchers further categorized the different rhetorical techniques a literary
journalism piece may have, according to Hidalgo’s book. These are: (1) the device of
definition or explaining a concept or idea or issue; (2) the device of comparison-andcontrast for easier understanding of a “strange idea or practice or phenomenon” if it is
compared to something they are already familiar with; (3) parallel construction or the
use of alternating comparisons; (4) illustrations or examples that make abstract ideas or
general statements more concrete; (5) classification for organizing complex material; (6)
listing or enumeration, and; (7) the use of analogy or extended metaphor.
The rhetorical techniques employed in analyzing video documentaries differed
from print products, since utilizing devices such as parallel construction would be so
difficult on the part of the documentary-maker. And so, the researchers decided to
categorize the rhetorical techniques portion of video content analysis into: (1)
interviews; (2) personal visit to sites; (3) footages; (4) file videos, and; (5) still images.
25
Most of the stories we analyzed utilized the techniques of illustrations and the use
of analogy. We also gave ourselves freedom to include other techniques that the articles
may require.
e.
Character
Stories are not stories without the presence of characters. They give life to the
scene and add emotion to the story. In short, they make up the story. Characters are
beads of a bracelet whose beauty wouldn’t show without the beads shining with the
light. The collectivity of characters paints the whole picture.
Hidalgo showed many different styles of introducing and describing the
character. The easiest way for an author to describe its character/s is through using
descriptive phrases, but Hidalgo said introducing them is more than just describing.
They are done through showing the character in action, describing his or her physical
appearance; reconstruction of the subject’s setting; presenting the character through the
eyes of others; presenting them through monologues and dialogues; and presenting them
through amusing stories and anecdotes showing their idiosyncratic behavior.
As you will see in the following chapters, characters need not to be real persons.
They may be entities like a whole nation, a religious figure, a group of people, or even
the reader himself. And some of the ways which the literary journalists presented them
would come off as a surprise.
26
C. Research Instruments
In the interviews, the researchers were guided by interview questions, most of
which were asked to all subjects, and some questions were separated in terms of the
subject’s seniority and journalistic experience, with specific questions as for “senior
literary journalists” or those writers who practiced or have been practicing the craft in a
time frame from its conception up to last year of the 20th century; and for “young literary
journalists” or those writers who only started producing stories from the beginning of the
millennium up to present.
For the content analysis, two coding guides were used – a guide for print and a
guide for videos.
The form contained spaces for a article numbering guide, title of the story, the
publication where the story was published, the date of publication, the author, the
category where the article was placed: main list of stories, editorial or opinion section, or
special features, the main topic, and the title. We also evaluated how the author used the
title and the lead in catching the attention of the readers.
D. Sampling
Being a content analysis that is purely qualitative, we used purposive and
judgmental sampling, a non-probability sampling technique. The stories included in the
study were from 1972 to 2012. This range was selected first, because it is the time when
Yap in his 2004 thesis said literary journalism started to dwindle after its “golden age” in
the 1960s, which we have disproven. The first year on the range is also considered
27
significant as it was the year martial law came into effect which provided more avenues
for writers to be more creative in order to escape censorship. Therefore, the time frame
from 1972 to 2012, would establish the point that literary journalism did not die but even
flourished in many different kinds in the recent years.
E. Data Gathering
Data gathering began early in January 2013 after the interviews were conducted.
This was to give ideas to the researchers which pieces were noteworthy and from which
publications they could be found, as suggested by the subjects of the interviews.
The articles from a couple of years in the first part of the time frame were
analyzed at the Microfilm section of the UP Main Library located at the Media Services
area, where issues of the publications were kept. The rest of the articles were analyzed at
the Filipinana Serials Section.
F. Data Analysis
Analyzing the interviews involved tracing the history of literary journalism
through nuggets of stories told by the subjects. Some parts, especially when subjects
dropped a name or a year, needed to be verified through comparison and further research.
We saw patterns from the interviews and though there were some disagreements
especially between some older journalists and younger ones, we were able to find
common grounds.
28
Content analysis began shortly after the encoding, although some of the analyses
were integrated with the encoding. Some of the items in the coding guide involved
opinion and insights from the researchers and therefore we stood as critiques.
The coding guides and the list of interview questions were provided in the
appendix.
G. Scope and Limitations
The research only dealt with materials related with the topic being discussed. The
researchers only analyzed works that are literary in form. Thus, straight news reports and
other materials that did not employ literary elements are not included in the pool of
materials that were included in the study.
Also, interviewees came from different decades, making sure that each decade
was well represented. Again, like the articles themselves, the choice of interviewees were
based on whether they become literary journalists or not. Those that are not literary
journalists were excluded from the list as well.
H. Timetable
The research was conducted for nine months, from July 2012 to March 2013. This
included all the researching, employing of research methods, and analysis.
The research methods, on the other hand, were done for three months, from
November 2012 to January 2013. This time frame enabled the researchers to tap the
29
people needed for the research, as well as to thoroughly analyze the materials for the
content analysis.
The Gantt Chart below explains the time frame of the research.
JUL
Research
Focus Interview
Content Analysis
Analysis
Drafting of thesis
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
JAN
FEB
MAR
CHAPTER VII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A.
An overview on the beginnings and the golden ages of Philippine literary
journalism
Our research takes a quick overview on how literary journalism started in the
Philippines. Before the First Quarter Storm (from January to March 1970 marked by an
upsurge of protest movements) and the declaration of martial law, print journalism was at
its peak, with newspapers, magazines and periodicals as the primary source of
information for Filipinos. Among these publications, the periodicals generated the highest
profit, placing them on a pedestal during the 1950s. As Dewey Joseph Yap (2004) wrote
it on his thesis, "the periodicals were where the money was." As a result, journalists felt
that writing for periodicals was prestigious, making it a huge accomplishment.
"One of the reasons why literary journalism flourished before the martial law
period was because there were the magazines. Okay, you had the Free Press, Graphic,
Asia Philippines Leader, you had several other magazines, and so on. And what this
means is, you could write lengthy articles using literary techniques," said Professor Luis
Teodoro in an interview.
"I don‟t think it was an issue on why did it penetrate, I think it developed
indigenously among the Filipino magazine writers. Magazine writers wrote that way, it
was the type of writing they did because they wanted to. The Graphic of the martial law
period, where Rosca was literary editor.And then the Asia Philippines Leader. They
continued to write in that way," said Dr. Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo in another interview.
31
With this, journalists deviated from traditional journalism, getting away from the
usual straightforward reporting employed by the newspapers. Magazines and periodicals
served as an avenue to get away from the usual and employ literary elements like
narratives and dialogues to create more detailed account on their pieces.
Among the magazines that flourished at that time, it was the Philippine Free Press
that became really prominent, and that was due to the big names that joined its pool of
staffers in the 1960s - Nick Joaquin, Kerima Polotan, Pete Lacaba, Wilfrido Noriedo and
Gregorio Brillantes, according to Hidalgo. Yap (2004) also described them as the "five
pillars of literary journalism," considering that they all have a background as fictionists
before becoming part of the said paper.
Despite this, literary journalism still struggled to flourish by then. Yap's research
found out that issues on combining literature and journalism rose at the start. For
instance, Nick Joaquin's brand of literary journalism when he started writing for the
Philippine Free Press were only about the travel grants that he obtained. Polotan also had
an issue of subjectivity, affecting her employing of fictional elements to her stories. And
Brillantes experienced making awkward transitions between literary introductions and
journalistic content when he started doing this kind of journalism.
So the question is, what really was the state of literary journalism at that time?
For Hidalgo, this period was the peak of literary journalism.
"The high point of literary journalism in the country was before martial law when
Free Press was staffed by Nick Joaquin, Greg Brillantes, Pete Lacaba, Wilfredo Noriedo,
32
Kerima Polotan, those writers writing for the Free Press. Writing very high quality
literary journalism pieces. A high point in the history of media," said Hidalgo.
"What made it popular was, in the first place, there were really huge names, big
names doing it. [B]ut you have to get it clear. You have to realize the people among
whom these writings were popular were those familiar with English, those who were
relatively well-educated. But the material basis of that popular is the existence of so
many magazines. Without the magazines, practice of literary journalism is very difficult,"
Teodoro said.
Yuson, on the other hand, debunked the notion of literary journalism being at its
height at that time.
"Hindi siya height. Kasi, in the 1960s, no one else was doing it except Nick
Joaquin. And if I may venture, after Nick, Pete Lacaba, but the rest of the Free Press
writers were not practicing literary journalism. Greg and Kerima, not so much. Wilfredo
Noriedo, literary writing all the time. Because he is a columnist in the Free Press, you
might say he is literary. So when he does reviews in films, he wrote it with literary
techniques. In the 1960s, journalism was mostly Free Press, hardly anything else," he
said.
Either way, literary journalism still opened another channel for journalists to
angle their stories. A break from traditional journalism, so to speak. No one anticipated
that this kind of journalism will play a huge role in the next decade, in the midst of
censorship and repression brought about by the Marcos dictatorship.
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B.
Literary journalism from 1972 to 1982 and censorship
Our research formally begins with evaluating and assessing literary journalism
from 1972, a crucial point in Philippine history. The last quarter of 1972 came as a shock
for some, though for others it was expected, when former president Ferdinand Marcos
came out to speak on television declaring martial law.
The repression began early morning of the 23rd of September1 when Marcos
ordered his political opponents rounded up, all schools closed down, and all
communications and public utilities placed under government control. Without warning,
the military closed down and seized media establishments, posting announcements
saying: “This Building is Closed and Sealed and Placed Under Military Control.”
At six in the morning, Filipinos were awakened by silent radios, blank television
screens, and the absence of newspapers along the streets.
“Journalists remember the first months of martial law as among the darkest.
Airline flights are suspended indefinitely and overseas telephone operators refuse to
accept incoming calls. There is no immediate official announcement, but news about
what had happened while the nation was sleeping spreads like wildfire,” the article said.
The people were not aware until the president himself appeared on television at
around seven in the evening for the formal announcement of the proclamation, imposing
curfews, and banning public demonstrations.
1
Pedros, K. (2006, September 21). Fake ambush of Enrile ushered in martial law. Inquirer.net. Retrieved
from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/2006092122225/Fake_ambush_of_Enrile_ushered_in_martial_law
34
Martial law was nightmare for journalists and writers alike, the latter being afraid
of what their stories may unintentionally bring against the administration. It was called
the “Dark Ages of Philippine Journalism.” The day following the proclamation, Marcos
issued Letter of Instruction No. 1 ordering the Press and Defense Secretaries to “take
over and control or cause the taking over and control of the mass media for the duration
of the national emergency, or until otherwise ordered by the President or his duly
designated representative.” (Galang, 1988)
The Weekly Graphic, the name of Graphic Magazine when it was sold to the
Aranetas, and the Free Press, two of the leading magazines publishing narrative
journalism stories, were closed down with its editors and writers all hauled to jail. The
editors of the Free Press, Teodoro Locsin Sr. and Napoleon Rama were arrested and
were imprisoned without charges (Galang, 1988).
The press was silent during the decade from 1972 to 1982 with only two surviving
publications recognized by the government, Daily Express, Bulletin Today (Manila
Bulletin), and Times Journal, which became known as the “establishment press.”
(Tuazon, n.d.)
However, what interested the researchers is the fact that some literary journalism
pieces published in Free Press prior to the official proclamation of martial law seemed to
be prophetic of the coming of the martial law.
The remaining pieces of Free Press before it was closed down shortly after the
declaration of martial law seemed to anticipate what was going to happen to Philippine
35
journalism at that time. One example was Laurel‟s “No Law Is Better Than A Bad Law”
published on February 29, 1972.
With a first person point of view and utilizing a style that was similar to a speech,
as many articles in the Free Press were, Laurel warned of an approaching martial law
saying that this would happen because the government was afraid of a revolution and the
people were afraid of a military takeover. The article was more contemplative and
persuasive rather than descriptive, but it still fell under the researchers‟ definition of
literary journalism because of its content, technique, and the nature of the writing.
A long-time writer of prose and poetry, Laurel was vice-president during the time
of former president Corazon Aquino. Before that, he served as Aquino‟s first and only
Prime Minister from February 25 to March 25, 1986.
Apart from the insights of a looming martial law, the literary journalism pieces in
1972 also criticized the government then of having a highly centralized form of
bureaucracy, as revealed in Leodegario Ilagan‟s “Freedom and Responsibility – The
Barrio Way.” Some of the articles strongly opposed the planned Constitutional
Convention in drafting a new constitution.
There was this interesting and perfectly written story by Luningning Cruz
published on February 12, 1972. Named “The Constitution Speaks,” Cruz used the firstperson narrative with the author portraying the Constitution as a person speaking to the
people. The Constitution, which stood as the “narrator” appeared to be decisive and
intimidating, but said that as a guide, he did not impose himself upon the Filipino people.
36
The approach of the story and the way the character was presented was like Jose Rizal
reciting his ultimo adios, or the last words of any subversive about to be guillotined.
As you will see in the following excepts, the story was grounded on facts but done
very differently.
“… To some, I am a mere scrap of paper. To others, I am a sacred vessel,
the repository of the highest hopes and aspirations of a people, the blessed covenant
between the governors and the governed, the master plan of a people‟s search for
justice and a better life, the nation‟s guard against oppression and the people‟s
ultimate expression of their sovereignty. I am neither one, nor the other of these two
opposite points of views… They say, I no longer serve. They say I must be changed.
Before you cast me into a black pit of the forgotten, I will have my final say… You
say that I have failed you, I say that you have failed yourself. And so I do not plead,
like a lover about to be discarded that you keep me.”
The year 1972 also devoted articles on the Constitutional Convention, financial
stories and spending, judicial reforms, Imelda Marcos, government spending,and student
protests. The publication never failed to include lightweight stories on Nora Aunor, and
the Filipino culture. One example of the latter was “The Bird of Mars” by Nid Anima that
gave allusions to the Filipino spirit through cockfighting. The article said cockfights gave
the Filipinos an opportunity for relaxation. These superficially trivial topics would not
have gotten into the pages of Free Press if not for its deeper meaning and tremendous
message, whether implied or not.
37
Windows for opportunities opened by then, considering high-caliber writers who
worked on quality stories, but the scope of mainstream literary journalism temporarily
died during the martial law period.
Teodoro said the martial law censorship affected all forms of mainstream
journalism, even creative nonfiction. He narrated an anecdote about the legendary
Joaquin, who was one of his mentors, when the latter came rushing to Teodoro‟s house
saying, “I will never write again until those bastards in Malacañang are out!” after they
were released from detention.
Joaquin thought not to write during martial law because that served as his way of
protest, according to Teodoro.
“One of the consequences of martial law was that, all journalism was censored.
For one, many journalists chose not to practice. For example, Ninotchka Rosca and I
couldn‟t practice in conscience, kasi sasabihin sa „yo ng editor, „You cannot do this, you
cannot write this.‟ What kind of journalism is that? So we ended up writing for foreign
publications. Then in her own case, she ended up leaving the country because she
couldn‟t stand it anymore.”
Mainstream literary journalism may have declined significantly during martial
law due to censorship, but this style of journalism did not die down, he added. As a
matter of fact, it tried its best to find another niche, and this time, it was through the
underground press.
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Literary journalism flourished in the underground and alternative papers during
the martial law period, such as those of Sheila Coronel‟s works (Teodoro, 2013).
However, some writers were able to get away from censorship through the
crafting of their works. Yuson, who was a budding journalist during this time, albeit
being an established fiction writer, said the sugarcoating came in forms of fables and
allusions.
“It became symbolic, where the animals stand for certain symbols of authority,”
Yuson said. But he added these pieces only appeared rarely, as censorship during the
martial law period came at its best (or worst.)
Furthermore, Encanto also believed the literary journalism fashion during the era
of martial law censorship was a way for writers to get around the censors using literary
devices.
Furthermore, Encanto also believed that literary journalism has been utilized by
journalists as an escape from the martial law censorship, allowing them to expose
information being suppressed in conventional, straight news reporting.
“The writing allowed the writers to capture the atmosphere, the temper of that
time,” she said. “The kind of writing is also shaped by the time and condition.”
There were some writers like Yuson and Arlene Babst who tried to remain
consistent in their writing styles but the attempt to escape censorship was there. They
were trying to “test the limits” of the martial law censorship. (Yuson, 2013)
39
C.
Literary journalism from 1982 to 1992
Being a kind of writing that has been shaped by the situation or crisis, literary
journalism has urged people to move forward and struggle for true independence,
especially when forces came against the Marcos administration.
Through literary journalism, people were better informed and were roused by that
kind of writing. Encanto said it takes time for people to be outraged and for one to have
the urge, there has to be some kind of writing like literary journalism to awaken them.
The 1980s was the dawn of a new beginning for journalism, as well as for literary
journalism. It was the time when major literary journalism publications came back to
circulation.
For instance, Free Press came out shortly before the February 7, 1986 snap
elections, a reflection of a soon-to-change landscape, to join the then presidential
candidate Aquino‟s campaign for the presidency (Galang, 1988). After EDSA revolution
and the accession of a new regime, Free Press was relaunched as a fortnightly
publication, with the same editor-in-chief since the time it stopped when martial law was
declared.
Graphic‟s revival came later. It was revived in 1990, four years after People
Power I, under its current owner and chairman emeritus, Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, and
was renamed Philippine Graphic.
40
The years-long slumber of these two magazines proved to be advantageous. The
era of censorship seemed to provide them with enough gumption and capacity to write
better stories that touched the lives of the Filipino people. There may be minimal changes
when it comes to the style of the writers. Same old songs, same old forms: some were
descriptive, others were reflective, but all in long form. The changes were seen in the
topics and the stories. One thing was sure: the silencing of these magazines has caused
the writers to rage against the Marcos administration, which was previously praised in
many articles. The ire was shown in articles that criticized the ill-gotten wealth, and
satirizing Imelda. As a matter of fact, articles against the Marcos administration and the
Marcos family did not die down until the 1990s.
On the other end, like many media establishments which owed much to the
Aquino administration because of their revival, many stories of Graphic and Free Press
were written to praise the Aquino administration. But it was short-lived; criticisms also
sprang.
We begin with an article by Teodoro Locsin, Sr. that has proven our points made
earlier. Free Press always came with short but striking editorials when a reader reached
the first page of every issue. An editorial cartoon was laid on top of the page, occupying
most of the space and the editorial below the picture in a larger font size than the rest of
the stories. An editorial in narrative style published on January 9, 1988 titled “Thanks”
showed a personal commentary on the Lopez brothers‟ takeover of a government
sequestered television station. It started with the title: “Thanks,” then gave an overview
of the conflict between certain journalists, as well as the events following the issue. The
41
story was very straightforward and frank, the usual Locsin style. It did not delve into
descriptions but rather used logic and strong arguments.
Prof. Georgina Encanto PhD pointed out that literary journalism need not be
descriptive, as opposed to new journalism which came before literary journalism.
Encanto said new journalism was highly different from literary journalism, as the first
employed fiction writing techniques about a wide range of topics. In new journalism,
writers experimented with characters, built scenes, had dialogues and even interior
monologues in order to render more completely or more deeply the emotional content,
she added. Literary journalism, on the other hand, has more than emotional appeal. It was
there to influence and to teach people to move forward. According to Encanto, literary
journalism may not be descriptive. What made it different from other kinds of journalism
is its in-depth nature, more on the substance than form.
This was deemed true at the onset of the 1980s where a wide range of descriptive
stories were toned down. As the researchers have observed in Free Press for example, the
1988 stories contained less descriptions and illustrations, as well as imagery, but focused
more on the issues at hand with in-depth approach. Hidalgo agreed when she said this
genre “demands spontaneity and an imaginative approach, while remaining true to the
validity and integrity of the information it contains… Creative nonfiction differs from
fiction because it is necessarily and scrupulously accurate in the presentation of
information, a teaching element to the readers, is paramount.”
Many of the 1980s articles were critical of policies, with stories on the AntiDynasty Bill, population growth, U.S. bases, and Marcos‟ wealth among others.
42
This think piece story written in a very literary manner, again by Locsin (“World
Without War”), showed how literary journalism during the 1980s focused more on
analyzing issues deeper, going for the bigger picture, with minimal use of descriptions:
“… A man is unhappy with his wife; divorce is expensive or against his
religion; war is the solution…War is exciting. It gives meaning to a usually
purposeless existence… War is convenient, peace so complicated!...It is always
easier to die than to live; the death wish is powerful; if man would live, he must,
somehow, go against his previous history; he must be transformed. This is easier
said than done…”
One could not read this writing style in today‟s newspapers and publications,
columns excluded of course. One needs to visit a book of nonfiction to find these kinds of
phrases. The 1980s were a completely different era from today. Moreover, the story‟s
lead used the elements of quoting prominent foreign personalities such as American Civil
War general William Sherman saying, “War is hell,” former U.S. president Dwight
Eisenhower who said, “There is no glory in war but the blood it costs,” followed by a
mention of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini saying the bombs he dropped on Ethiopia
“blossomed like flowers,” and views from an English poet that war was wonderful.
Locsin even inserted an excerpt from Rupert Brooke‟s poem.
Locsin‟s tone in this story was very preachy but convincing, like telling a story in
an alehouse. The author was able to somehow influence his readers that there was wonder
in war, an argument usually difficult to support. He also questioned existing principles
such as love, hate, and peace.
43
The story only went to show literary journalism is not just about telling a story of
a particular event or group of people or of a person. It‟s also about influencing people to
think and ponder on issues within a larger scale. A concrete storyline may not be
necessary, it‟s all about making the ideas very literary. It‟s all about the author narrating
his points of views.
Another story by Locsin was on Smokey Mountain, entitled “The Filipino Spirit.”
It started with a quotation, “Abandon Hope Ye Who Enter Here,” an inscription on the
gates of hell written by Dante Alighieri in his Inferno.
“Morning, noon and night – the stench, the flies, the rats scampering all over than
awful pile of garbage… If there is hell on earth, it is there in Smokey Mountain,” Locsin
wrote.
The capacity of literary journalism to engage people was even reinforced by other
magazines such as National Midweek, attempting to achieve such goal until the 1990s,
said Teodoro. He added it was an attempt to recreate the traditional style of Free Press,
during the pre-martial law period. Teodoro became one of the editors of National
Midweek. In the magazine were the writings of big names in literary journalism such as
Brillantes, Lacaba, and “somebody named TezzaParel.” It was like the comeback of the
old-school, the return of the classics. It was the Renaissance of the classic Philippine
literary journalism in one magazine. National Midweek was probably the closest when it
comes to the golden age of literary journalism the country in terms of impact and
technique.
44
One of the writers, Parel, would write about details unseen by her contemporaries.
Her report on the U.S. bases, for example, focused more on the impact, on the meaning of
the presence of American soldiers to the women of Olongapo. Teodoro recalled how
Parel would describe the Filipina hostesses “shutting down their awareness of the world
whenever they were dancing along with the soldiers.” Parel was one of the post-martial
law journalists who wrote in the style of traditional literary journalism.
In a 1987 story titled “Suffer, Little Children?,” Parel told the story of young
children in Olongapo exploited by American soldiers. The story, though it focused on an
angle, i.e. the children, was a sub-context of the presence of foreign soldiers in the
country.
Through her third person, omniscient point-of-view, she narrated how children in
Olongapo ventured into jobs both decent and menial – from the public market, the
Victory Liner station, the Pagasa dump, and Magsaysay Avenue, the nightclub strip.
They sold plastic bags, scavenged garbage piles, collected bottles and newspapers, picked
pockets, and dancing and having a sexual relationship with American servicemen for
money.
It is interesting to note how Parel was able to tell the story without antagonizing,
using a writing style derived from a child‟s perspective.
The story was a collection of nuggets on AIDS, the activities in the nightclub, and
advocacy groups protecting the children, among others. These were connected in such a
45
way that it was smooth and untarnished, a talent of Parel. There were also a rundown of
figures and facts that did not veer away from the ambience exhaled by the story.
The introduction was effective showing details and action which was very
descriptive:
“…She performed less as a partner for him and more as a solo dancer on
a stage. She faced the tables of partying groups in front of the unpraised dance
floor, but in truth she danced for no one but herself. Rarely did she face her
partner of her own volition. He on his part tried to put his claim on her, invading
her space, making coarse physical suggestions that they bring the evening to its
foregone conclusion. From time to time, when the music slowed a bit, he took
her in his arms, ground his body against hers and rubbed his hands up and down
her hips, raising her skirt, exposing brown thighs not much thicker that her shins.
They made a grotesque pair, he with his drunken fumbling and she with her nose
squashed against his chest.”
As established in the earlier paragraphs, the 1980s was seen as a high point in the
image of Cory administration. Free Press published many articles that put the new
president in a good light.
In the story “Who Writes Those Cory Speeches?A Foreigner?Teamwork that
Speechwriter?,” Free Press injected humor with the magazine‟s editor saying it was not
FreePress that wrote the speech. It‟s very informal and conversational. The author found
another way of saying of Cory Aquino‟s loneliness over the death of her husband in a
very dramatic, compelling way.
46
Another article portrayed Aquino as the biblical figure Moses in “Holy Moses:
Cory Parts the Red Sea.” It was a story that played with words with the beginning pulling
a scene from the Bible and incorporated it with Gringo Honasan and Aquino.
The decade was also the time when journalists were reluctant enough to publish
interview stories in a question-and-answer manner. Many of those kinds of stories were
about the former First Lady Imelda Marcos. Some of her memorable quotes from the
story “Tribute to Virtue” by Rustum Quinton were: “We symbolize Malakas at Maganda.
Mr. Malakas is strong, patriotic, and heroic… I strive for excellence and beauty. Kung
pangit si Imelda, sino ang maganda? Kung tanga si Marcos, sino ang matalino” and
“Kung wala siyang kayamanan, hindi niya kayang bilhin ang engagement ring na ito.”
Literary journalism indeed has the power to introduce a prominent figure in a very
humanizing way.
Free Press also started giving spaces to foreign journalists, who in our point of
view, practiced a more literary style than local journalists, being the origins of literary
journalism. In “Death by a Thousand Cuts: The destruction of old Peking” by Italian
journalist Tiziano Terzani, the writer began with a fairy tale-like description of old
Peking, intersecting factual information and descriptive elements.
“No more, Peking is dying. The walls are gone, the gates are gone, the arches are
gone… Almost half the surface of old Peking has thus been destroyed since 1949.
Precisely the grandest, the most precious buildings were the first to go,” Terzani wrote.
47
It was important that literary journalists have an eye for detail. Terzani used
strong imagery when the writer described how restaurants for the masses in Peking were
filled with spits on the floor and tables were wiped only when they were obviously dirty.
The author made a lot of extensive research as seen from the details, the pieces of
information that required a lot of time. Efforts in literary journalism make it highly
credible.
Another story written by a foreign journalist described Manila from an outsider‟s
point of view. Jim Wallis in “Suffer the Little Children” described Manila as a “hot,
polluted sprawl.”
“A journey from the capital city of the First World‟s richest and most powerful
country to the homes of the Third World farmers. The distance was long, and yet, in the
11 days I spent in the Philippines, the relationship between the two places became
glaringly apparent,” Wallis wrote.
The publications have also started to include lightweight stories midst the
seriousness of Graphic and Free Press, with profiles of theatre actors, profiles of
celebrities, Lisa Macuja, and even petty personal experiences such as a job during the
graveyard.
“Watching the red haze of the soon-to-rise morning sun, I sip my coffeeand-danish at the still empty diner. After my 5am mean, of burger and fries, I
walk leisurely to the bus station, nodding hello to joggers breezing by. An early
bird? Guess again. I‟m on my home to try to get a good „night‟s‟ sleep… As for
me, I still can take my ulcers and eyebags; and for as long as I can, I‟m going to
48
resist the temptation of staying up with the rest of the world and languish in the
relief and solace in not joining it.”
-
Gamela Arpa, “Surviving The Night Shift”
Philippines Free Press (January 20, 1990)
Stories the researchers would coin as “best friend stories” started to emerge. These
are stories that situated the author in a coffee house sipping coffee with a best friend, and
so, the stories were advices. Free Press began writing stories on losing weight and
dieting, and issues on interracial marriages.
“There was something Hollywoodish at the beginning and ending of my
interracial marriage…In the beginning, there was this high fantasy romance with
tantalizing celluloid possibilities, complete with confectionery props, veiled
settings and soft illusions. Michael and I shared parallel starry-eyedness, in the
fusion of two worlds and personalities – which was novel, exciting and
breathlessly physical. The yummy rapture, alas, camouflaged insidious
incompatibilities which surfaced in the course of eleven years and corroded the
once perfect coupling.”
-
“An Interracial Marriage”
Philippines Free Press (February 10, 1990)
A very compelling piece was written by Romeo Arceo entitled “I Saw The Death
March” which recounted his eye-witness experience on the event with an angle focusing
on the escape to freedom of the victims. Because it came from an eye-witness, the details
were sharp and the fact that the author had an affinity with some of the victims made it
even more enthralling. His voice was traumatic but filled with passion, and he was able to
49
control his emotion. The article, fortunately, was not overwhelmed with too much
emotions.
“They started coming – through Bacolor, Pampanga, our town – on the
morning of April 13, 1942. From half-opened windows in our old, small house, we
looked at them – dead men on their feet, moving on in broken ranks…
… Today, little white crosses dot the spots where our soldiers fell and died
all along the death march route. But there are still places unmarked by white
crosses – where some soldiers are buried unknown. They may be lonely lying there
all along, forgotten and unknown.”
-
Romeo Arceo, “I Saw The Death March”
Philippines Free Press (April 13, 1991)
The researchers would like to end the discussion of the second decade by the
pieces written when Mount Pinatubo erupted on June 1991. Many articles were written
on the incident, in different perspectives and angles. Edward Kiunisala‟s “The Big
Bang!” used a lead that described what the residents felt before the main show without
mentioning that there was a volcanic eruption. The answer was delayed until the second
paragraph.
He told the story through the eyes of the witnesses, the natives mostly, things
readers never saw in newspaper reports. His tone was filled with adrenaline from the preeruption events while painting the picture of the towns affected.
The spirit of anger in the Marcos family was traced even in this 1991 article,
through Kiunisala‟s humorous ending.
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He said: “In Botolan, Zambales, a woman who called herself Maria Makiling
went around telling people she came to help lift the Filipinos from the poverty and
sufferings. Then, Imelda‟s voice suddenly came on over a local radio station hinting
unabashedly that the spirit of her husband was behind the natural disasters that have hit
the country. I could swear that the Maria Makiling in Botolan sounded just like Imelda
Marcos in New York. Whom the gods will destroy…”
D.
Literary journalism from 1992 to 2002
These articles were possibly the springboard for a revival of an angle that literary
journalism began to explore in the 1980s: travel writing. Joaquin did travel pieces but the
writers during this time were a bit different.
“Literary journalism is more often employed with personal pieces on travel
writing, that‟s even before you get to personal features,” Yuson emphasized.
It was in 1992 when Hidalgo published a collection of travel essays in a book
named, “I Remember… Travel Essays,” with stories in a variety of lengths, some
spanned more than five pages and other only had three pages. It was about her visits to
countries such as Hong Kong, the United States, Nepal, and Greece, among others.
Hidalgo said her travel pieces were highly influenced by the works of Polotan and
Joaquin. She wrote travel essays unconventionally, not describing the attractions but
rather focusing on the movements of the people, as well as petty things she saw around.
Her essays were mostly based on observations, rather than the political issues of the
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countries she visited. However, she said when utmost need arose, such as her piece on
Burma, she could not help but inject a little bit of politics in that particular piece.
The narrative style in her travel essays was wonderful. It was very simple but she
tried to relate her message in a very subtle way, using dialogues, characterization, and
building up of scenes.
An excerpt from her essay “Hong Kong in the Sixties” vividly described her
experience:
“It is a feeling that remains in my mind, like a fragrance will I Iinger
about a room even when the person wearing it has long since gone. The sights and
sounds hover about the shadowy edges of my memory, growing dimmer with the
passing seasons. But the feeling is still so sharp and clear, that I recognize it today
and can give it a name.”
Most of her travel essays used detailed descriptions of people she observed such
as noticing a man in red cardigan, describing his looks. In another essay, “Street Drama
In Athens,” she made use of overhearing a conversation of a couple in a nearby restaurant
table by citing the dialogues in verbatim. The author has made it clear, early in the story,
that her aim was “to study to foreigners.”
“The natives – young men and women as attractive as starlets or models –
appeared to congregate at the Kolnaki Square in downtown Athens, preening and
strutting and lingering endlessly over their cups of coffee or their glasses of ouzo in the
brilliant Mediterranean sunlight,” wrote Hidalgo.
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Not all of Hidalgo‟s travel pieces were written in an enjoyable fashion. She
admitted that some places she visited was not easy to get acquainted with, such as New
York City. It was evident in the way she described the place:
“The „hardship‟ is partly the result of the cost of living, which is so high, that
salaries which elsewhere stretch a long way, are here barely adequate for a decent
life. And partly the attitude of the natives, who tend to regard all foreigners as
immingrants, legal or otherwise, which is a harsh comedown for people who are used
to being treated as both diplomats and saviors. And partly everything else.The sheer
size of the city.The underlying tension.The pace.The astonishing squalor.The racial
violence.The hordes of homeless people slumped just outside the overpowering
Trump Tower and the even more extravagant Hemsley Palace. The feeling that
nobody gives a damn.”
-
Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, “Culture Shock in New York,”
I Remember… Travel Essays (1992)
But literary journalism did not only focus on travel stories. It also dealt mostly
with lifestyle features – fashion, showbiz, arts and culture (music, dance, cinema, theater)
and sports. It was as if there was a shift of purpose for these stories, from concealing
political messages brought about by martial law to much lighter and more entertaining
topics.
For instance, Teodoro Locsin wrote a story entitled “The Bridge: Third Person of
Love” (1993), which is all about various definitions of love. A passage on the article
went like this:
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“Love is triangular. Not just the relation between the two lovers but a
third being. Not an intruder but the one their love creates. A third in the trinity of
love. Love is not just sexual congress. Sex may be had with money or by
seduction. The seducer and the seduced remain, however close „the joining of the
two intestines‟… It is vulgarly called „making love,‟ as if love were a commodity
or merchandise… Love is not made. It makes the lover another being. He is both
himself and another, thinking, feeling as he never did before. He does not possess
love but is possessed by it.
The third entity in love is always with the lovers, apart but changing how
they would feel or think. A ghost: they would not be what they were without it.
They were then what they were without the spirit.”
Locsin deviated from the conventional narrative, complementing viewpoints from
different characters from different books about love. He showed it in such a way that the
article itself narrated different stories, justifying the very message of the article, which is
showing different definitions of the L word.
The Philippine Free Press, on the other hand, continued showcasing literary
journalistic pieces even after martial law. The publication included columns on arts on
the latter part of its issues, usually featuring stories about cinema, music and theater.
Moreover, Philippine Free Press continued its legacy of hailing its “Person of the Year”,
which was featured at the end of each year.
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One of the well-known personalities that the Philippine Free Press featured was
Corazon Aquino. In 1999, the publication explained in a narrative way how they came up
with choosing Aquino as the “Person of the Year.”
“As President, the Cory Aquino who never wanted to be President did
nothing to perpetuate herself in office. Hers was a presidency fiercely determined
to defend country, but not one which made itself a mechanism for its
continuation in office. Sergio Osmeña could serenely run for reelection and find
glory in defeat: here was a president who would not even countenance her
continuation in office beyond the term she had originally been elected to serve. If
Osmeña had put limits on his ambition, if Quezon had hastened his death because
of it, if Magsaysay had disturbed his contemporaries by the suspicion he might
continue in office for ever if only he succumbed to the temptations that power
brings (only perhaps to be saved from it by his untimely death), Cory Aquino
achieved power with the determination that one of her finest hours would be the
time she would gladly hand over that power to a duly-elected successor.
She became the focus of national pride and admiration internationally to
an extent that Quezon and Magsaysay could only have dreamed of. Her voice
became a voice listened to by millions beyond her shores. Filipinos, the
Philippines, Cory: all were of the same substance. Democracy was Cory and
democracy was the Philippines and democracy were the Filipinos. If Recto had
wanted Filipinos to think for themselves, Cory Aquino made them something
even better: a people determined to reclaim their freedom regardless of what
others thought (including Uncle Sam, the bogey of many a Recto speech); and
she furthermore allowed her countrymen to achieve the fulfillment of one of
55
Recto‟s most cherished dreams: a Philippines secure enough in its own abilities
and confident in its own future to break the umbilical cord tying it to America.
Not that Cory Aquino agreed with what the Senate decided to do in 1991.
She fought the rejection of RP-US Bases treaty –but she did it in the only way
she knew, and the only way she could possibly have done, given the way her life
had turned out: she went to the people and their elected representatives. When
she was rebuffed, she accepted their decision. She realized that her leadership
depended on its effectiviness on its being grounded in goals shared by the
majority of her countrymen.
She never again deviated from those goals: to bring democracy back, and
maintain it.
Until the time came to give to someone else the power the people had
given her, Cory did not allow anyone to wrest it away. Coup after coup took
place. She refused to flee. She would stand by her post. It was the people‟s
mandate. She could do no less. If the world marveled at millions of unarmed
Filipinos reclaiming their liberties from an armed and ruthless despot, the world
marveled at a democracy that could withstand such a beating from its own
soldiers. It marveled, too, at a woman who, having received power, wielded it so
lightly –and yet so firmly when required.”
The publication did not just describe Aquino‟s presidency. It did not just narrate
her endeavors, from being Ninoy‟s wife to being the country‟s mother. The article also
included other nominees for the same post like Claro M. Recto, Sergio Osmena and
56
Ramon Magsaysay. By doing this, the publication compared all their nominees, further
clarifying their position for choosing Aquino among others.
Alongside these topics, writing about food also flourished during this period,
exploring the guilty pleasures of eating as exemplified by descriptions of sumptuous
meals people wish to be served on their plates.
One perfect example is Palanca‟s article entitled “Memoirs of my Stomach.” This
one was published in the book The Mad Tea Party (2001), which is a compilation of
columns published in The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“This is why when eating a perfect scallop with a spoonful of whipped
celery-rave, I ejaculate in delight. „Wow! This is really good!‟, or at least make
„Mmmm…‟ noises with my throat as I munch. It‟s also, I expect, why people
having sex make grunting noises and ejaculate in delight. „It feels so good!‟ as
they, well, ejaculate in delight.”
The article continued this way:
“…‟Are we having fun yet?‟ If you need to ask, you aren‟t. The only true
pleasure is the kind that descends slowly and imperceptibly, a sense of wellbeing that can be a combination of many factors: a beautiful sunset, a long and
exciting menu, the way the breeze carries, intermittently, over to your side of the
table, the scent of the woman sitting opposite you as she pulls back her hair.”
These kinds of publications showed a trend on where literary journalism was
headed at this decade – turning from literary journalism as a form of political propaganda
57
to focusing lighter, more personal topics that appeal to the emotions. With the fall of the
Marcos dictatorship and the spread of Aquino‟s form of democracy, the need for written
political propaganda seemed to lessen, and at the same time the demand for human
interest stories increased.
The shift, however, did not mean that journalists during this decade forgot about
the political side of things. There were still articles written either to look back at the
people‟s experience during martial law, or to create a spin on pertinent social issues at
that time. Here is just one example, which was published in the year 2000:
“During the 1950s and early 1960s, nationalism was equated with
communism. Filipinos were, in general, perfectly content to be regarded as the
Americans‟ “little brown brothers.”
Yet, in this sea of colonial mentality emerged islands of nationalism that
invoked the unresolved conflict between Philippine Independence and America‟s
Manifest Destiny at the turn of the century.
These nationalist pockets were initially manned by politicians such as
Claro M. Recto, Jose P. Laurel and Lorenzo Tañada, who gave inspiration t o
associations like the Movement for the Advancement of Nationalism (MAN). By
the mid-l960s, nationalism began to attract a younger crop of Filipinos.”
-
Dan Mariano, “Red Flags and Raised Fists”
Philippines Free Press, January 26, 2000
In this article, Mariano shared his own observation on how martial law started. He
did not fail to vividly describe the atmosphere at that time – students marching down the
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streets and yelling for Marcos‟ ouster, waving red flags and raising clenched fists as signs
of protest.
Another memoir was written the same year, describing how it was to become a
martial law baby:
“The batch of ‟99 faces a world that offers up greater possibilities but
less certainties. They may look back in years ahead to those four fabled days at
EDSA where yellow-shirted grandmothers shared chicken drumsticks with street
kids, where brave nuns armed with roses faced down the evil empire and
remember with fondness a people‟s shining hour, or yet again think themselves
victims of another old and terrible lie.
But if EDSA does turn out to be a lie, then it is but the same lie lovers
succumb to again and again. If it be fantasy, then it was at least our fantasy. To
borrow lines from Kahlil Gibran poetizing about pleasure: EDSA is a freedom
song, but it is not freedom, it is the blossoming of our desires but not their fruits.”
-
Charlson Ong, “Memories of a Martial Law minor”
Philippines Free Press, February 19, 2000
The decade came to a close, and contrary to what had been anticipated, literary
journalism continued to live on, facing new challenges as the new millennium
approached.
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E. Literary journalism from 2002 to 2012
As the new decade starts, the trend of literary journalism continued to solidify:
more and more lifestyle and human interest stories dominated the newspapers and
magazines. More and more stories about fashion, food, travel, arts and sports employed
literary elements like lengthy narratives and vivid descriptions.
One example is an article published on July 15, 2006 entitled “Pound for Pound:
A Power Man” (n.d.):
“That‟s the way most Filipinos are. It‟s not chicken without gravy. Not
chicharon without suka‟t bawang. Not inihaw without kalamasi, toyo‟t sili.
Filipinos don‟t treat their sidings, well, on the side. Their kamatis, itlog na pula
and pritong tilapia? Well, they must all go together. To a certain extent it
represents why most Filipinos sat on their seats wondering if Manny Pacquiao‟s
victory would‟ve been better if he had knocked out Oscar Larios.
Some things just go together seamlessly when A + B doesn‟t make C, the
alternative doesn‟t quite convince. As for Pacquiao, people had been so
accustomed equating his wins to knockouts; split decisions or otherwise don‟t
quite convince.”
The article, which was about Manny Pacquiao and his knock-out fight with Oscar
Larios, created a twist on a usual sports analysis by complementing descriptive details
into the article.
It continued:
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“His (Larios) nerves were steely enough not to give in to the
overwhelming home-court disadvantage, and his jaw backed that pride. And
nowhere was than more evident than what he fell once in the seventh and again
in the 12th when he chose to get up and fight again.”
The article succeeded in using powerful descriptions to strengthen its analysis on
the Pacquiao-Larios fight. This seemed to break away from the conventional opinion
writing, wherein only a short description of the issue is introduced, followed by the
writer‟s own take on the topic. Here, the article proved that vivid descriptions can lead to
more in-depth analysis on the topic being discussed.
Despite the prestige brought about by literary journalism in lifestyle stories and
news features, the medium itself continued to decline little by little.
Literary journalism started to weaken in presentation because some of the wellknown publishing companies changed their article layouts. For example, Philippine Free
Press designed their articles to be smaller and shorter so that pages consumed were lesser.
With this, Hidalgo saw a decline on literary journalism in the country at that time
due to the rejection of lengthy pieces in newspapers.
“Unfortunately though, our print media does not encourage long pieces so they‟re
forced to write very short pieces and that‟s a disadvantage because the writers I was
mentioning write whole books about one subject lang,” Hidalgo said.
Teodoro supported this claim, saying that magazines declined after martial law,
causing the “death” of literary journalism.
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“Now with the demise of the magazines, what difference in today, the magazines
are practically dead, nobody reads the magazines anymore. Graphic is trying to keep the
tradition alive but I don‟t know if it‟s very successful. I think in Graphic, there are still
attempts to do some literary journalism,” said Teodoro.
Palanca, who also experienced working both for newspapers and magazines, got
the same observation. He even added that due to the rise of the internet, particularly the
social networking sites, people who used to become receivers of news become news
producers, in a way changing the orientation of newspapers.
“So you might notice that the news gets thinner, but the lifestyle section, as
compared with the old newspapers... the opinion section and the lifestyle section get
thicker because the purpose of newspapers is for analysis and not for news,” he said.
At this point in time, a new medium started to rule the runway bigtime –
television. With its features – combination of audio and video materials made accessible
to the viewers, more entertaining but insightful information provided, and easier
information sharing wherein millions of people are reached at a single second – television
became the public‟s primary source of information. But what has been not anticipated
was that literary journalism would flourish in this medium, in the form of documentaries.
Documentaries have been popular for being a break away from the usual twominuter news stories aired on TV news programs. Later on, this kind of journalistic
reporting started employing narratives and descriptions to add color to the stories, making
documentaries more entertaining and in depth at the same time.
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For instance, a different side of the hero was featured in a documentary presented
by Howie Severino for I-Witness entitled, Little Bad Boy: Binatang Rizal sa Europa. This
said documentary tells the story of who Rizal is when he was still in Europe. Supporting
details were gathered through interviews with relatives and advocates by narrating them
in a way like a traveler was telling an exciting discovery to his colleagues.
Severino (2013), in our interview with him, shared his thoughts about this.
“I tell stories. They just happen to be nonfiction, but I grew up wanting to tell
stories for a living, even a vocation. I didn‟t sit down and say, “Now I‟m going to start
using narrative elements in my work.” It was never a conscious efforts to do so, for me,
it‟s part of storytelling,” he said.
Severino has produced a number of documentaries, some of which even garnered
awards here and abroad. One of his works was “Little Bad Boy: Binatang Rizal sa
Europa” which aired in the program iWitness in December 2004. The documentary, like a
film, started with shots from Europe and Jose Rizal‟s lost room, juxtaposing it with an
excerpt from an interview with Rizal‟s descendants.
“Hindi rin natin lubos na kilala si Rizal. Kaya hinanap ko siya sa Europa kung
saan hindi siya bayani o diyos,” said Severino in the introduction of the documentary.
Severino also quoted this in the middle of the documentary:
“Higit pa sa kwentuhang naganap sa bahay ni Paciano, sa pamamagitan
ng kaniyang mga apo, muli nilang naipamahagi ang ala-alang iniwan ni Rizal.
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Mga kwentong babaunin ni JP, dagdag sandata sa kaniyang patuloy na
pagsasabuhay at pagpapaalala sa kagalingan at katangian ng ating bayani.”
The said documentary won the Outstanding Televised Feature on Youth and
Education during the Lasallian Scholarum Awards held in 2005.
Severino shared that his approach to documentaries is more of cinematic rather
than documentary. Moreover, he said that employing literary elements in his works
serves more as a function rather than style.
“I don‟t overanalyze my style and use this type of narrative element. I need to
start doing this particular type of narrative element. I don‟t work that way. I don‟t think
that way. I just wanna tell interesting stories to people who want to learn from
experience. So, I don‟t plan a particular style. I just try things and I try them, you know,
and I try not to do things I find unnatural so everything you see on TV is really me. It‟s
not because I want to adopt a certain style or appearance, you know,” he said.
“I think it‟s more function that style, then the function becomes the style to other
people. And then because other people consider it a style, I start thinking of it as my
style,” he added.
Presently, emerging documentaries are starting to flourish in the Philippine TV
like I-Witness, Front Row and Reel Time, to name a few. This new form of literary
journalism helped viewers interact more and understand better the news.
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As of now, the rise of modern technology allows people to become part of the
newsmaking process. In Facebook and Twitter, as Palanca mentioned in our interview.
Some news stories are even anchored from these social networking sites.
In this light, a new wave of documentaries started to make its name in the
industry. This time, the interviewees themselves narrate their own stories, making the
documentarist out of the picture.
This has been the rationale behind Patricia Evangelista‟s Storyline, as well as
GMA‟s Reel Time and Frontrow. These programs employ this style of storytelling,
wherein the documentarist show his/her angle through video footage and montage, while
the characters narrate their own story.
When asked about the future of documentaries, Severino said it will continue to
flourish because it is still in the starting stage.
“The documentary genre has barely begun. It‟s growing all the time. When I first
started, very few. Now, when I ride a taxi, the drivers talk to me about the documentary
they had watched. That‟s a change. A lot of students are aspiring, not just to watch
documentaries, but to make documentaries,” he said.
F. New forms of literary journalism and challenges
“I think that every good journalism has to be literary to some extent.”
Thus said Palanca, one of the editors of the Rogue magazine, in our interview
with him. The statement was short but impactful, which aims to summarize this portion
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of the research results. Palanca implied that journalism - no matter what style it uses, no
matter what beat it belongs to, no matter what discipline it falls under – has to have a
literary element in it. All journalists will absolutely disagree when we say that some of
their outputs cannot be considered as good journalism. All published outputs are good
journalism, and no matter how they are written, contain literary elements, whether
implicit or explicit. Literary journalism is not just about starting the piece with a narrative
or searching for a new angle. The simple elements such as dialogue, conflict, and the
writing of a good lead are always present in every journalistic piece.
Therefore, Philippine journalism through the ages uses literary techniques. This
study aims to show how literary journalism is used in news and feature articles in the
Philippines.
The style and technique of literary journalism has changed, transformed, and
adapted through time. Before martial law period (the martial period being the starting
point of this study), literary journalism was mainstream. It was frequently present in daily
newspapers in the forms of columns, opinion pieces, and even news reports in long form.
But because of the growing trend of straight news reporting, literary journalism took on a
new form in magazines such as the Free Press, Graphic, Asia Philippines Leader, and
National Midweek, among others. It has become a “side-dish” or perhaps a
“complementary beverage” to daily news reports by presenting them in a new way.
Literary journalism acquired new forms in the beginning of the 1990s, not just
medium-based but also style-based. As established in the previous portions of this study,
travel writing based on observation, creative nonfiction, lifestyle pieces, personal
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columns, and satirical commentaries that all utilize the elements of literary journalism
were published.
The new forms of literary journalism in terms of medium began roughly in the
late 1980s and sprang in the 1990s, when pieces invaded lifestyle sections of daily
newspapers; hippie magazines on arts, culture, film, theatre, fashion, etc; creative
nonfiction books; and of course, television.
Literary journalists, according to our interviews, differ in perspective. Senior and
younger journalists who practised or are continuously practising the craft have differing
opinions, perhaps brought about by the schools of thought they grew up with when they
pertain to literary journalism.
Teodoro, whom we labeled as part of the senior literary journalists pool, believed
“magazines are practically dead,” because he said “nobody reads the magazines
anymore.” Of course, this expression of Teodoro is based on the extent of the interest of
people in reading magazines such as Graphic in the past decades.
He said Graphic is trying to keep the tradition alive but made no comments
whether it has been successful.
Graphic, through its current editor-in-chief Joel Pablo Salud, agreed with
Teodoro‟s second claim, but disagreed on his first claim, based on the researcher‟s
interview with him.
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We have narrowed down the challenges faced by the new forms of literary
journalism into five major ones: (1) personal challenges; (2) structural challenges; (3)
challenges brought by new media, (4) editorial challenges, and; (5) production challenges
which pertain to video outputs.
Let us start with the personal challenges. Most of the writers who have practised
literary journalism began as fictionists, or have been writing fiction stories along with
journalistic stories in their careers. You have Joaquin, Yuson, Hidalgo, Rosca, and even
Teodoro who took up creative writing in college. It is undeniable that the training these
writers have in writing fiction, whether novels, short stories, or poetry, has practically
influenced their journalistic writing style. In fact, Philippine literary journalism was born
because of the literary styles of say, Joaquin, whom other writers claim invented literary
journalism. Readers who enjoy the style owe much to the literary training these writers
went through.
But the training in journalism (as opposed to training in creative writing, for
instance) is different from the training in literature. The researchers remember a
Department of Journalism professor reiterating to the freshmen that journalism is not
creative writing during the first-day orientation with the freshmen Journalism students in
UP.
Many of today‟s literary journalists who are short story writers end up writing
about themselves, Teodoro emphasized. He said what they write about are “my car” or
“my collection of fountain pens,” which may interest people, but are not concerns of
mainstream journalism.
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Yuson agreed on this point. He recalled the story of a writer who was a part of a
workshop he facilitated. He said the writer had a good command of the language but
when he started reading her Nora Aunor piece, the first pages of her piece told about how
the writer prepared for the interview, how she dressed up, how she travelled to the venue,
and other things that placed in the writer on the centerpiece.
“Sino ka ba? I mean, give us Nora Aunor!” Yuson exclaimed humorously.
Yuson made mention of Lacaba whose writings made readers aware that he is part
of the story but not obtrusive.
“Through him, kasalikarin,” Yuson said. “‟Pag tumakbo „yung mga bata, kasama
kang tumatakbo, and you feel the gas bomb attacks, gunshots, whips, etc. That‟s effective
metafiction, making yourself part of it. It depends on the skill. Others had the intention
but not skillful. Lumalabas, sobra ka.”
Second are the structural challenges or challenges that concern the way the stories
are packaged.
“I think what passes off as literary journalism today is burdened by overwriting,”
Teodoro said.
By overwriting, Teodoro meant writers tend to build up the atmosphere
extensively and endlessly, as the structure suggests. Their prose is “too ornate,” and their
language is “pretentious,” that he said are not the characteristics of good literary
journalism.
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The 71-year-old deputy director of the Center for Media Freedom and
Responsibility admires the documentaries of Evangelista for their literary characteristics
because they focus on the “human aspect.” But according to Teodoro, Evangelista is an
example of a literary journalist who tends to overwrite, despite her columns and works
being powerful and convincing. A factor, he said, is probably on Evangelista never
having formal journalism training, being a Speech major in college.
Yuson, who trained Evangelista in many of her public speaking stints (he even
shared some anecdotes that would seem irrelevant in this study), said her writing style
was fresh. He was particularly amazed by how she turned a phrase, able to construct long
sentences without syntactical errors.
It is important for literary journalists today to learn about structure as it is one of
the most important aspects of writing from the time one decides where to begin to the
ending, Yuson added.
“You have to weigh it in. It really boils down to your language, skill, narrative
structure. I think it‟s the narrative structure that journalists will owe to its literary
training,” he said.
Third is on the challenges brought by new media. Try publishing the long-form
narratives of Brillantes or Locsin to an online news website, and they would certainly not
be part of “Most Read” tab, unless the topic of their stories is compelling, that it will
outdo the daily news reports which are quicker and easier to read. New media and the
internet have unquestionably changed the way journalists tell stories and changed the
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landscape of journalism. Online journalism calls for shorter stories, straightforward
headlines and leads, and simpler structures – three characteristics are alien to full-blown
literary journalism pieces.
Yet, with the rise of online journalism, the ever-adaptive literary journalism has
also found a niche in the internet with the columns of Palanca, Zafra, and Evangelista
published online, which have garnered readership – and hits – even more than the
homepage stories, though the stories are a lot shorter than the traditional pieces. Zafra at
times gets her own window in the homepage of Interaksyon.
VERA Files writer Ellen Tordesillas said online journalism has affected the
attention span of readers, making it shorter. She shared that in VERA and Yahoo!
Philippines, which are both online news sites, editors would pick out stories written in a
maximum of 800 words, not even half of the word count of the old articles of Graphic
and Free Press. A story written in a hundred or more words would be too chunky to be
digested by readers, she added. She said it is a discipline for the writers to make stories
more concise in order to be read.
Nevertheless, perhaps also because she writes for online publications, Tordesillas
never sees the internet as a villain, but rather a sidekick of print. She said multimedia is
not a negative thing. Stories that are published in that way only evolve in terms of form.
“Any kind of art, literature in particular, has to compete in the many inputs. I tell
that to my classes in Ateneo,” Yuson said.“You have to keep finding things new. You‟re
competing with the internet, with the NBA on TV, the DVDs, the video games. Those are
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hard to beat. So you have to keep developing a style where you grab your reader by the
neck and not let go.”
“These days in the newsroom, you don‟t expect the first person to break the story
because it might come out on Twitter, it might come out on Facebook. So you‟re doing
something different with reporting the news. So you might notice that the news gets
thinner, but the lifestyle and opinion sections get thicker because the purpose of
newspapers is for analysis and not for news,” Palanca said.
With this, the new media has posed challenges on the readership of top-brass
literary journalism magazines like Graphic. Salud admitted the magazine struggles with
readership numbers when compared to lifestyle and other publications, but the magazine
has created a niche of its own. He said its analysis pieces “have been the foundation of
decision-makers, especially articles regarding the Sultanate of Sulu, cybercrime law, graft
and corruption, the Presidency and other news items.”
Connected to the challenges of new media are the challenges in editorial policies
in literary journalism. Have they changed through time?
Graphic is consistent in terms of editorial policies, though Salud said different
editors would have different styles, but the common ground is that, they all veer away
from sensationalism.
“The culture in the Graphic newsroom is one of exacting journalism topped with
impeccable literary flavor. Most editors through the years were either veteran journalists
or luminaries in Philippine letters,” he said.
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Following a distinct stylebook, he said they tell the story not in the
straightforward manner of journalists but as literary storytellers to give readers a "feel" of
the landscape. The limit of scope is context. It should not distort and not be
sensationalized.
“Our vision stands: to lend context and intelligent perspective on what is
happening in society. We're not out to praise or hit anyone. We're not part of the
'journalism' that makes a killing by writing sensational pieces. This includes politics,
socio-economic issues and even lifestyle,” he said.
The demographics of their readers include students, decision-makers in
government, academe, and the literary community. He said they do not cater to what
most readers want to read.
Salud further noted: “From the time of Agustin Fabian, to Nick Joaquin, to the
present crop of younger editors, we get writers and journalists who are established in
their field. They should be highly creative, readable, totally electric.”
The last challenge is on the part of the production process of television and film
documentaries. The main programs patronized by Filipino television viewers are not
documentaries but primetimes series shows and drama series2.
According to Severino who has been doing documentaries for several years
already, not having enough money to pursue a production is one of the challenges faced
by documentary-makers like him, no matter how promising his stories are.
2
According to the list by Kantar Media, a multi-national research company, on the most-watched programs
in Philippine television as of Novermber 2012
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Other concerns of documentary-makers are security concerns, weather concerns,
pre-conditioned concerns, travelling concerns, and ethical concerns, among others.
Severino shared one documentary he made that got his show suspended by the
media regulation board because of the sensitivity of the topic. The documentary was
about a festival in Laguna where ladies would dress up as clowns and wave phallic
symbols around the newlyweds, as they walk in the reception or outside the church. The
show got suspended for three weeks because of the story, he said.
When asked whether he chose stories based on what people want or based on his
own interests, he said it was a combination.
“To me the main challenge of journalism is to make the important interesting and
relevant. Make people interested in something they didn‟t think they‟d be interested in.
You chose that topic purely because it‟s significant, not because they already want it, no.
Part of the challenge of journalism is to discern what is significant from what is not
significant,” Severino pointed out.
On the part of Encanto, the challenge posed by television documentaries lie on the
amount of research the writers put into them. She believes television is a “wasted
resource.” Television, according to her, is a great medium but when stories are not
grounded on solid research and complete context, it all would bounce back.
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G. Effects of Literary Journalism According to the Writers
One of the limitations of the research is the failure of the researchers to get the
insights of the readers on the effects of literary journalism pieces to them. Most of the
points that would be discussed in this part of the results are based on the inputs of the
writers we have interviewed.
Literary journalism gave a breath of fresh air, Yuson mentioned. Not everything
has to be written in a formalist and linear style. It has the power that ordinary reporting
does not have. It has the ability to make things convincing and real.
According to Severino, since literary journalism pieces are longer, they give the
readers an immersive experience. Before they are in long form, readers spend more time
with the subjects and they get to know the characters better. When readers get to know
communities and locations better, it leaves an emotional imprint that has already been
changed by the story.
Graphic editor-in-chief Salud‟s idea of a piece written in literary journalism form
is the same as his idea of any literary piece. It should not simply inform but should give
readers a thorough perspective as regards what is happening.
“Simply said it should tell a story, and the best way to include context in the piece
is to write it the way a creative writer would,” he said.
For him, it gives the reader a clearer, broader perspective on the issue; it doesn't
only inform, it "entertains" in the same way a fiction story would; it gives readers a fresh
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sense of a news item, almost bringing them to where it actually transpired, and stories
written in this way displays a seamless-ness not found in ordinary reportage.
For writers like Encanto, the effects of literary journalism go beyond informing
readers in a new way, but urges readers to take action and bring about change. Such was
the atmosphere during the “First Quarter Storm” when pieces were so dramatic that it got
to influence readers to stand up and fight for their rights.
According to Encanto, literary journalism follows the course of the times. The
more tumultuous a period is, the more impactful the writing would be; reasons which
made literary journalism influential during the martial law and the post-martial law
periods.
H. A Different Kind of Storytelling
Some journalists, like Severino, grew up wanting to tell stories for a living, or
even as a vocation – except that, the stories happen to be based on facts.
“We‟re all storytellers, each and every one of us. We tell many stories everyday.
When we talk to our maid, to our children. Now, you have to be effective, you have to
convince, you have to have a purpose,” Yuson said.
Yuson, who teaches fiction and poetry in Ateneo de Manila University, said he
always tries to put his students in a situation where their dad gave them a top-down
Porsche after graduation. The Porsche got screwed up in a slight accident along
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Katipunan. The challenge is to tell the story to their father so as to get minimal
reprimand. He said it cannot be as simple as, “Dad, nabangga ako.”
“There are many ways,” he said.“‟Dad, do you wanna see my A+‟s on my card?‟
Good news muna, then tell it. There are many ways of attacking and telling the same
story. It could also be, „Dad, do you love me?‟
The usual Jack and Jill went up the hill tune belongs to mainstream journalism, he
added.
In storytelling, having a good narrative is important. When writing a long profile
story about someone, writers should not just describe the person but find a narrative
structure to approach the piece. This was what literature brought to journalism. Literary
journalism makes stories stand out because there are more emotion, more imagery, and
more details, making them more lasting.
“This journalism is liberating,” Encanto said.
Literary journalism storytellers have different motivations in pursuing the craft.
According to Teodoro, people who want to reach others have to be in mass media. For
others, the motivation comes from his own interest, like Yuson.
Yuson said he has always believed in “art for art‟s sake.” He said he did not think
writing should serve a purpose but for self-expression.
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“If the readers liked it, that‟s a bonus,” he said wittingly. “If it gets published,
that‟s a bonus. But I‟ll still continue writing even without readers. I write to entertain
myself and others.”
It has been said that most of the literary journalists started as fiction writers and so
it cannot be prevented that the line between the two is being blurred.
One challenge in the storytelling in literary journalism is to remain truthful
despite the use of literary techniques and effects, according to Encanto. Sometimes, there
are temptations to exaggerate and invent, as what some writers did or have been doing.
Joaquin‟s speech titled “Journalism versus Literature?,” delivered in August 1996
during the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative
Communication Arts ceremony, would sum up the arguments earlier.
“The so-called creative writer tends to be too subjective, too obsessed with
himself. That's why I think every aspiring young writer should spend some years
as a news reporter, so he will be obliged to step out of his own private world and
to experience the world outside
This will not only train him to be observant and objective, it may also save
him from eccentricity, the danger that faces every creative writer. The newsman
has to report the who, what, when, where, why, and how as clearly as possible so
that even people on the run can read him.
The
newsman
cannot
afford
to
be
eccentric.
Eccentricity is such a temptation to the creative writer because he tends to be
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self-indulgent. In the Philippines especially, where so few read him, he may be
tempted to indulge in his fancies and foibles. He feels under no obligation to
communicate clearly because he know that his readers are mostly his own fellow
writers and that he can play games with them.
But what journalism demands is responsible writing. The reporter is dutybound to communicate-and to communicate as sensibly as possible. He must not
play games with the reading public: Communication is serious business.
But too many creative writers believe that, if communication is the
business of journalism, literature is different, because the business of literature is
expression-or, to be more specific, self-expression. And here the responsibility is
only to oneself. That egotism is the kind of sickness that a tenure in journalism
can very effectively cure…
…If the creative writer needs more training in responsible communication,
the news writer needs more training in fine expression, even self-expressionespecially today in the Philippines, when the news writers cannot even get the
gender of their pronouns right.”
Literature and journalism complement each other. One breathes life into the other,
giving it a new form. It is also in this speech that Joaquin implied that journalism must
always be literary, a supplement to the statement by Palanca noted earlier.
“So that was the first vital thing I learned in journalism: that every report must be
done as if you were reporting on the parting of the Red Sea, or the Battle of
Pinaglabanan, or the splitting of the atom,” said in the speech (Joaquin, 1996).
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Literature may not be the popular form nowadays but journalism with literary
elements has evolved into many forms. No wonder people enjoy reading lifestyle stories.
No wonder people enjoy reading stories from Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Rogue, Metro,
Preview, and other lifestyle magazines. It is because their stories have literary elements.
The speech concluded: “So, the question of „Journalism versus Literature?‟ no
longer has to be asked. The old feud is over and the two rivals are more or less on even
terms. If journalism has been upgraded to literature, literature is being reinvented as a
species of reportage.” (Joaquin, 1996)
CHAPTER VIII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Through our focus interviews with senior and young literary journalists, and
through our content analysis of different literary journalism works, the researchers were
able to find out that literary journalism continues to live. The stories fervently narrated by
our sources suggest that there is an effort the keep the literary journalism tradition alive
and kicking, despite challenges from mainstream media and online journalism. All of
them believed literary journalism would continue to subsist, with some even saying that
good journalism is and will always be literary to some extent.
The definition of literary journalism must not only be confined to the definitions
set by scholars, but should be enriched by the writing practice of literary journalism.
Literary journalism penetrated not only the magazines such as Free Press,
Graphic, and Asia Philippines-Leader, but also newspapers, lifestyle-oriented magazines,
television, and of course, online.
Others may claim that literary journalism “declined.” It did at some points in
history but it certainly did not die. This is because of the apparent dwindling of the print
industry itself, as manifested by the challenges faced by literary journalism magazines.
But like any other concept, it never fails transform itself and evolve to become niches.
Literary journalism moved from print to television for instance, while maintaining
particular styles and adjusting some to align with the tastes of the new generation. We
have also seen senior literary journalists such as Yuson who started writing literary
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journalism pieces as early as the 1980s and has constantly modified his style to appeal
more to the general mass, suggested the immortality of authors’ styles.
Authors looked back to history and patterned their techniques after the style of older
journalists such as Joaquin, Brillantes, and Rosca who brought journalism to new heights
even if some of them did not have formal training in journalism. Literary journalism will
continue to live as well as literature itself has thrived because viewers and readers want to
extract more meaning from the ordinary to the odd.
CHAPTER IX. IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A. Theoretical Issues
The frameworks used in this study proved to be a sound guide in pursuing the
main objective of the research, i.e. to trace the history of literary journalism from
1972 to 2012. Utilizing a well-established theory was not necessary as the study
ventures more on exploring trends and patterns. Thus, the researchers used a concept
usually utilized in historical research.
The division of the study into four decades was helpful for the researchers to
classify stories according to their scope, aside from the time period. Like any
experimentation in a scientific method, placing labels on variables is always
beneficial. However, labels may be unreliable at times.
There were instances when the literary journalism pieces published at the end of
every labeled time period had qualities that were exhibited by stories under the next
decade, or vice-versa. We also mentioned that literary journalism is a form of
“protest” against conventions. While it has been shown that literary journalism
deviated from the styles of standard news reports, the study was not able to
adequately follow up on it being a form of protest against conventional writing style,
as it even reinforced news stories as in-depth analyses and sidebars.
The researchers named the decade from 2002-2012 as “The Age of Cyberspace.”
While we were able to show how the internet has shaped the way literary journalism
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is formed, it would be necessary for further research to look at online pieces
following the literary journalism style.
B. Methodological Issues
With the extent of the possible resources available and with the extent of the time
period the research has covered, the usage of a purposive sampling has been
necessary and supportive. It provided the researchers a glimpse of the atmosphere of
literary journalism during each decade studied but failed to provide a good picture of
the environment then, as only few stories were analyzed per year.
For further research, it would be best to allot longer time in analyzing content
from different magazines, regardless of readership and content. That is, even those of
the underground publications and alternative media, as the topics may be different, if
not entirely distinct.
The focus interviews were also an advantage because, aside from presenting firsthand accounts from literary journalists themselves, they were able to reveal lesser
known journalists who employed literary techniques. Those journalists were mostly
not from newspapers, but worked independently, have published books, or worked in
a magazine outfit.
For the interviews, we recommend future researchers to interview documentary
makers and filmmakers, as part of literary journalism in the recent decades.
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Though the insights of the resource persons on the effects of literary journalism to
readers, it would still be best to conduct surveys to know the pulse of readers on these
kind of journalism, whether many people still read them or the same effects happen in
the decades studied.
The study did not explore pieces published online and in the new media. We
recommend further studies to look for literary journalism pieces online and find out
how the techniques differ from print, their readership, and their effects. Are they
coupled with videos and graphics? Are the topics as serious as those in pieces on
print?
C. Practical Issues
Our research is only part of a larger endeavor in tracing the long history of literary
journalism in the Philippines.
Journalism as substance and style is usually overlooked, as most researches focus
on media as an institution – newspapers, magazines, and television. Many researchers
fail to see that the foundation of journalism started from long narratives and from
reflective papers on various issues. News today lacks context, background and
analysis. They merely become sources of information read once and ignored the next
minute. When news stories contain adequate context, the insight is imprinted on the
readers mind enabling them to ponder on issues and realize there are other groups of
people that carry a heavier burden in the society, urging them to take an action and
change those people’s lives. The first thing that made the researchers pursue this
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study is this fact – literary journalism has a potential in shaping the society, one story
at a time.
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Locsin, T. (1992, July 18). The Meaning of July 14. Philippines Free Press.
Locsin, T. (1988, January 23). Will She or Won’t She?. Philippines Free Press.
Locsin, T. (1990, January 6). World Without War. Philippines Free Press.
Luna, J. (1991, April 13). The Biggest Scam. Philippines Free Press
Mable, J. (1994 November 5). Masskara Festival: Coming Home. Philippines Free Press
Molina, L. (1990, May 5). Catch a Falling Star: Yet another day in Imelda’s Trial.
Philippines Free Press.
88
Molina, L. (1990, February 3). The Clear Loser. Philippines Free Press.
Naguid, N. (2004, March 13). Another Fire At Sea. Philippines Free Press.
Noble, M. (1972, January 15). A Beginner's Cultural Experience. Philippines Free Press.
Quinton, R. (1988, May 28). Tribute to Virtue. Philippines Free Press
Rama, N. (1972, January 8). Imelda Marcos: Will She Run? Philippines Free Press.
Roma, D. (1988, December 17). Man of the Theater. Philippines Free Press.
Saspa, J. (1992, January 19). Reforms from the Water Up. Philippines Free Press.
Terill, R. (1972, February). The 800,000,000 Report from China. Philippines Free Press.
Tiziano, T. (1988, April 16). Death By A Thousand Cuts: The destruction of old Peking.
Philippines Free Press
Torre, P. (1992, September 18). When Jazz Goes Pogi. Philippines Free Press.
Tutay, F. (1986, June 14). The Yamashita Treasure Hunt Goes On!. Philippines Free
Press.
Ureta, A. (1991, April 6). Lisa Macuja: Ballerina of the People. Philippines Free Press.
Wallis, J. (1989, February 11). Suffer The Little Children. Philippines Free Press.
_________ (1990, February 10). An Interracial Marriage. Philippines Free Press
_________ (1988, January 23) Holy Moses: Cory 'Parts the Red Sea'. Philippines Free
Press
_________ (2006, July 15). Pound of Pound: A Power Man. Philippines Free Press
_________ (1989, May 28). Nun in China: A Nun's Three-Day Visit to Canton, China.
Philippines Free Press
_________ (1988, January 23) Who Writes Those Cory Speeches? A Foreigner?
Teamwork that Speechwriter?. Philippines Free Press
From the issues of Philippine Graphic
Batnag, D. (1991, May 20). The Fury of the Gods. Philippine Graphic.
89
Brillantes, G. (1999, September 6). A Hero’s Saga Revisited: The General At Sunset.
Philippine Graphic.
Edades, J. (1996, July 8). Unforgettable episodes in 'Japanese times'. Philippine Graphic.
Joaquin, N. (1991, June 17). Manila, My Manila. Philippine Graphic.
Joaquin, N. (1990, June 18). Marcosian Flashbacks. Philippine Graphic.
Joaquin, N. (2002, November 25). UST Gears For 'Academic 400'. Philippine Graphic.
Lee, Y. (2002, December 16). Cagayan Whitewater Fun. Philippine Graphic
Yuson, K. (2004, January 12). Counting Our Blessings. Philippine Graphic.
_________ (1988, Janary 23). Richard Gomez: The Women in His Life. Philippine
Graphic.
From the issues of National Midweek
Parel, T. (1987). Suffer, Little Children?. National Midweek.
Interviews
BIBLIOGRAPHY Encanto, G. (2013, January). Interview with Dr. Encanto. (L.
Agustin, & M. Cabujat, Interviewers)
Palanca, C. (2013, January). Interview with Mr. Palanca. (L. Agustin, & M. Cabujat,
Interviewers)
BIBLIOGRAPHY Pantoja-Hidalgo, C. (2013, January). Interview with Dr. Hidalgo.
(L. Agustin, & M. Cabujat, Interviewers)
Severino, H. (2013, January). Interview with Mr. Severino. (L. Agustin, & M. Cabujat,
Interviewers)
Teodoro, L. (2013, January). Interview with Prof. Teodoro. (L. Agustin, & M. Cabujat,
Interviewers)
Tordesillas, E. (2013, January). Interview with Ms. Tordesillas. (L. Agustin, & M.
Cabujat, Interviewers)
90
BIBLIOGRAPHY Yuson, A. (2013, January). Interview with Mr. Yuson. (L. Agustin,
& M. Cabujat, Interviewers)
Videos
Anggahan, N. (Producer). (2011) Lusong [Online]. Philippines: Reel Time, GMA-7
Cabrido, D. (Producer). (2012) Mga Yaman Sa Basura [Online]. Philippines: Front Row,
GMA-7
Evangelista, E. (Producer). (2004). Little Bad Boy: Binatang Rizal Sa Europa [Online].
Philippines: iWitness, GMA-7
Pasion-Namora, K. (Producer). (2012). Mga Batang Journalist [Online]. Philippines:
Krusada, ABS-CBN
Online references
Defensor, B. (2012, May 6). Narrative journalism. Retrieved July 30, 2012, from
TheManilaTimes.net:
http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/opinion/columnist1/22369-narrativejournalism
Ladly, M. (2010, December 16). Lost and Bound. Retrieved July 30, 2012, from Ryerson
Review of Journalism: http://rrj.ca/m11749/
Mariano, D. (2000, January 26). Red flags and raised fists. Retrieved February 2013,
from Philippines Free Press: HYPERLINK
"http://philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com/2000/01/"
http://philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com/2000/01/
Ong, C. (2000). Memories of a Martial Law Minor. Retrieved February 2013, from
Philippines Free Press: HYPERLINK
"http://philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com/2000/02/19/memories-of-a-martial-lawminor/" http://philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com/2000/02/19/memories-of-a-
martial-law-minor/
Palanca, C. (2012, October). Haru in Pasig proves that cooking ‘for Filipino tastes’
doesn’t mean being sloppy. Retrieved February 2013, from Inquirer.net:
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/71888/haru-in-pasig-proves-that-cooking-for-filipinotastes-doesnt-mean-being-sloppy
Palanca, C. (2013, January 24). Atelier 317: Unpretentious but pleasant; cozy and homey.
Retrieved February 2013, from Inquirer.net:
91
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/86559/atelier-317-unpretentious-but-pleasant-cozyand-homey
Pedroso, K. (2006, September 21). Fake ambush of Enrile ushered in martial law .
Retrieved February 2013, from Inquirer.net:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/2006092122225/Fake_ambush_of_Enrile_ushered_in_martial_law
BIBLIOGRAPHY Quezon, M. III (1995, October 11). Canned adobo and other S&T
adventures. Retrieved February 2013, from Philippines Free Press:
http://philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com/1995/10/11/canned-adobo-and-other-stadventures-october-11-1995-2/#more-45
Quezon, M. III (1996, May). Institutionalizing state interventionism. Retrieved February
2013, from Philippines Free Press:
http://philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com/1996/05/10/institutionalizing-stateinterventionism-may-1996-2/#more-47
Quezon, M. III (1997, November 1). Public, versus private, sins. Retrieved February
2013, from Philippines Free Press:
http://philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com/1997/11/
Quezon, M. III (1999, December 30). Corazon Aquino: Person of the Century. Retrieved
February 2013, from Philippines Free Press:
http://philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com/1999/12/30/corazon-aquino-person-ofthe-century-december-30-1999/
Quezon, M. III (2002, January 13). Too early the birds of prey. Retrieved February 2013,
from Philippines Free Press:
http://philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com/2002/01/13/too-early-the-birds-of-preyjanuary-13-2002/
Quezon, M. Jr. (2001, December 8). Escape from Corregidor. Retrieved February 2013,
from Philippines Free Press:
http://philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com/2001/12/08/escape-from-corregidordecember-8-2001/
Santiago, J. S. (2007, September 1). Being a reporter during martial law . Retrieved July
30, 2012, from Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility : http://www.cmfrphil.org/2007/09/01/being-a-reporter-during-martial-law/
Tuazon, R. (n.d.). The Print Media: A Tradition of Freedom. Retrieved February 2013,
from National Commmission for Culture and the Arts:
92
http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-na/article.php?igm=3&i=221
APPENDIX A - CONTENT ANALYSIS CODING GUIDE FOR PRINT
Coding Guide for Print: Literary Journalism in the Philippines from 1972 to 2012
This coding guide is part of an undergraduate thesis titled, “Literary Journalism in the
Philippines from 1972 to 2012” by Jon Lindley Agustin and Myra Cabujat. The
objectives of this study is to narrate the history of literary journalism from the said time
frames divided by decade and how the styles of articles enclosed in a 10-year coverage
differ from one another. In addition to interviews, the study will include content analysis
of some magazines and publications in the country. The analysis will be qualitative.
Considering literary journalism pieces to be included in the analysis will be based on one
of the definitions set by Dr. Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo in her book, Creative Nonfiction: A
Manual for Filipino Writers. A literary journalism piece can be distinguished with the use
of scenes and dramatic writing.
1. ARTICLE NUMBER: As an article is selected for coding, it must be assigned an
article number. Article numbers should begin with 1.
2. ARTICLE TITLE: Enter the title of the article. Include subtitles.
3. PUBLICATION: Enter the name of the publication.
4. MONTH, DAY, YEAR: Enter the month, day, and year when the article was
published.
5. AUTHOR: Enter the name of the author.
6. CATEGORY:
a. Is the article classified under the magazine‟s main list of stories?
b. Is the article classified under the magazine‟s
editorial/opinion/columns/commentary?
c. Is the article classified under the magazine‟s special features?
7. TOPIC: What is the topic of the article?
8. TITLE AND LEAD: How did the author utilize the title and the lead in catching
the attention of the reader?
9. APPROACH: What is the angle used by the writer?
10. POINT OF VIEW: What is the perspective used by writer?
a. First person
b. Second person
c. Third person
d. Omniscient
e. Others
11. TONE AND VOICE: What is the writer‟s attitude toward the subject? Entries
must be traits and emotions.
12. STRUCTURE: How did the writer arrange the details?
a. Chronological structure
b. Explanation of a process structure
c. Flashback structure
d. Parallel structure (side by side with another story)
e. Collage/mosaic structure (enumeration of little details)
f. Diary/logbook/journal structure
g. Question structure
h. Story-within-a-story structure
i. Others
13. RHETORICAL TECHNIQUES: How did the author present his points and
argumentations?
a. Definition
b. Comparison and contrast
c. Parallel construction and allusions
d. Illustrations/examples
e. Classification
f. Enumeration
g. Analogy
h. Others
14. CHARACTERS: If there are characters, how did the author present them?
a. In action
b. Physical appearance
c. Through the eyes of others
d. Dialogues
e. Anecdotes
f. Others
15. ENDING: How did the author end the story? Was it effective?
APPENDIX B - CONTENT ANALYSIS CODING GUIDE FOR VIDEO
Coding Guide for Video: Literary Journalism in the Philippines from 1972 to 2012
This coding guide is part of an undergraduate thesis titled, “Literary Journalism in the
Philippines from 1972 to 2012” by Jon Lindley Agustin and Myra Cabujat. The
objectives of this study is to narrate the history of literary journalism from the said time
frames divided by decade and how the styles of articles enclosed in a 10-year coverage
differ from one another. In addition to interviews, the study will include content analysis
of some magazines and publications in the country. The analysis will be qualitative.
Considering literary journalism pieces to be included in the analysis will be based on one
of the definitions set by Dr. Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo in her book, Creative Nonfiction: A
Manual for Filipino Writers. A literary journalism piece can be distinguished with the use
of scenes and dramatic writing.
1. VIDEO NUMBER: As a video is selected for coding, it must be assigned an
article number. Article numbers should begin with 1.
2. TITLE: Enter the title of the video. Include subtitles.
3. NAME OF THE PROGRAM AND TV STATION: Enter the name of the
program where the video is aired and the TV station.
4. MONTH, DAY, YEAR: Enter the month, day, and year when the video is aired
5. AUTHOR/DOCUMENTARIST: Enter the name of the documentarist.
6. TOPIC: What is the main topic of discussion in the video?
7. TITLE AND INTRO: How did the author utilize the title and the introductory
frames in catching the attention of the viewer?
8. APPROACH: What is the angle used by the writer?
9. POINT OF VIEW: How did the point of view of the documentarist help
establishing the story‟s main points?
10. TONE AND VOICE: What is the writer‟s attitude toward the subject? Entries
must be traits and emotions. Also discuss the narrative style used.
11. STRUCTURE: How did was the story arranged?
a. Chronological structure
b. Explanation of a process structure
c. Flashback structure
d. Parallel structure (side by side with another story)
e. Collage/mosaic structure (enumeration of little details)
f. Diary/logbook/journal structure
g. Question structure
h. Story-within-a-story structure
i. Others
12. RHETORICAL TECHNIQUES: How did the documentary present its points and
argumentations?
a. Interviews
b. Personal visits to the sites
c. Footages
d. File Videos
e. Still Images
f. Others
13. ENDING: How did the author end the story? Was it effective?
a. In terms of narrative style
b. In terms of visual style
APPENDIX C - CONTENT ANALYSIS NOTES FOR PRINT
CONTENT ANALYSIS
Philippines Free Press
Jan. 1972
EIC: Teodoro Locsin
“Godfather, Godfather” by Jose Quirino
- Narrative, story telling, used flashback
- Baptism and mountain tribes
- Grandfather Totoy Ilongot
- Story of how the narrator became a godfather while he was 13
- First person narrative
- The crucial point of the story was not found until the last paragraphs.
- Very lightly made but moving
Other Stories:
- The Validity of Rizal‟s Leadership Today – Leopoldo Yabes
- Rizal as farmer – Ambrosio Villorente
- Political commentaries and advice columns
- On Election Spending
- Proposals for the Constitutional Convention
“Freedom and Responsibility – The Barrio Way” by Leodegario Ilagan
- Issues on the Constitutional Convention
- Highly centralized form of the bureaucracy
- Power of the local government
Jan. 8, 1972
“Imelda Marcos: Will She Run?” by Napoleon Rama
- “There‟s something special about her personality.” Open for personal opinion.
- She is more dangerous than dazzling, some contend.
- Dehumanizes Imelda in a positive light
- Dialogues
Other Topics:
- AFP‟s overstaying generals
- China-US relations
Jan. 15, 1972
A Beginners’s Cultural Experience by Maximo Noble III
-
The American‟s were a “cultural” disappointment
Descriptive, personal experience
Observations outside the theatre hall down to the performance itself
Frequent use of descriptive words
Shorter than most of the articles
Jan. 22, 1972
Feb 1972
The 800,000,000 Report from China by Ross Terill
- Used jargon and inside jokes
- Personal experience on being in China in the 1970s
- What the author thinks about China compared to its neighbors
- Personification of China
- Metaphors and similes
- “To the visiting writer, information is like melons in the market. If it‟s available,
you get it. If it‟s not, your hands are empty. There is nothing in between.”
- Story from the slogans and people reading them
- Long narrative. It spanned several jump pages.
The Constitution Speaks by Luningning Cruz from Feb 12, 1972
- Style: First person narrative with the author AS the Constitution speaking to the
people
- “To some, I am mere scrap of paper.”
- “To others, I am a sacred vessel – the repository of the highest hopes and
aspirations of a people, the blessed covenant between the governors and the
governed, the master plan of a people‟s search for justice and a better life, the
nation‟s guard against oppression and the people‟s ultimate expression of their
sovereignty.”
- “I am neither one, nor the other of these two opposite points of views.”
- The speaking Constitution appears to be decisive and intimidating. But said that
as a guide, he did not impose himself upon the Filipino people
- They say, I no longer serve. They say I must be changed.
- Before you cast me into the black pit of the forgotten, I will have my final say.
- LIKE A MAN ABOUT TO BE GUILLOTINED. Mi Ultimo Adios.
- You say that I have failed you, I say that you have failed yourself.
- And so I do not plead, like a lover about the be discarded, that you keep me.
No Law Is Better Than A Bad Law by Salvador Laurel – Feb. 29, 1972
-Usage of the first person similar to a speech
- Warnings of an approaching Martial law (government afraid of revolution,
people afraid of military takeover)
- Not much on description but rather on contemplation, on persuasion
Talked about the Anti-Subversion Law
The Bird of Mars by Nid Anima
-
Fighting cock and bird of Mars
Allusions
Existence of a cock through fighting
“Thanks to the fighting cock, Filipinos have a national sport, a hobby, an
opportunity for relaxation.”
Mention of Shakespeare
A trivial topic but written with tremendous meaning, implied or not
Topics:
- Nora and Pip
- Constitutional Conventiona
Financial stories and spending
- Student protests
- Judicial reforms
INTERMISSION: Examine issues of the magazines and find out how many articles fall
under literary journalism as defined and described by books
June 14, 1986
“The Outrage”
Topic: Plaza Miranda bombing
-
The introduction was dramatic, narrating the scene when the Liberal Party
candidats proclaimed in Plaza Miranda were faced with explosions.
Adjectives such as “villainous,” “outrageous,” and “shameful”
A rundown of the prominent victims
Very antagonistic against Marcos
A dramatic description of the start of the bombing
Action-packed
1971 story
“The Yamashita Treasure Hunt Go On!” by Filemon Tutay
- Questions
- Anti-Marcos
Topics:
- Yamashita treasure
- Agrarian reform
Jan. 9, 1988
Topics:
- The Third ASEAN summit and criticisms
- Honasan faces murder and rebellion charges
- Art and Imelda
- The Tasaday controversy
- 1988 local elections
The 1988 stories contained less descriptions and illustrations, as well as imagery but
focused more on the issues at hand with in-depth approach. (DISPROVE THIS,
PLEASE.)
“Thanks” by Teodoro Locsin
- Personal commentary on the Lopez Brothers‟ takeover of the government
sequestered TV station
- The title is one-word gives the readers a sense of curiosity
- Started with giving an overview of the conflict between journalists, as well of the
enumeration of events following the issue.
- It‟s very straightforward and frank.
- The article did not delve into descriptions but rather into logic and strong
arguments.
Jan. 23, 1988
THE 1988 issue is more on questioning and criticizing than presenting the issue.
Topics:
- Will the US Bases be allowed to stay?
- Population growth
“Will She or Won‟t She?” By Teodoro Locsin
-
Lead: question/riddle
Parallel construction
Questions
Repetition of ideas
Simple words and ideas but striking thoughts
“Who Writes Those Cory Speeches? A Foreigner? Teamwork that Speechwriter?”
- Paralle construction of Pres. Roosevent acknowledging his speechwriter
- “The Free Press editor heard those words from a newreel (“We have nothing to
fear but fear itself.”) and it stirred him to his very depths. (INCLUSION OF THE
WRITER)
- The author found another way of saying of Cory Aquino‟s loneliness over the
death of her husband in a very dramatic, compelling way.
- The story is injected with humor with the inclusion of the Free Press editor saying
it was not Free Press that wrote the speech. It‟s very informal and conversational.
- Free use of capital letters to denote exclamation such as “A FOREIGNER!” IN
revelation of the person who possibly wrote some of Cory‟s speeches
- It ended with a question.
”Holy Moses: Cory „Parts the Red Sea‟”
-
The title is very enthralling. Nice play of words.
The beginning pulls a scene from the Bible and incorporates it with Cory and
Gringo. It‟s hilarious.
Commentary of the writer
February 5, 1988
Topics:
- Anti-Dynasty Bill
- All-out war vs. the CPP-NPA
- The People‟s Revolution
- Imelda‟s search of wealth
April 16, 1988
Topics:
- The US Bases Poker Game
- Manhunt for Gringo Honasan
- Top CPP-NPA leaders fall
-
No justice yet for Ninoy
“Death By A Thousand Cuts: The destruction of old Peking” By Tiziano Terzani
- WHAT CORY WILL NOT SEE – Almost half the surface of old Peking has thus
been destroyed since 1949. Precisely the grandest, the most precious buildings
were the first to go
- Began with introducing the city through fairytale approach
Authors of literary journalism can go with a lot of styles.
- Bright description to… “No more, Peking is dying. The walls are gone, the gates
are gone, the arches are gone…”
- It painted Peking.
- The intersection of factual information and descriptive elements. Superb.
- Change through the years - temples turning into industrial factories
- Used illustrations and examples
- Strong imagery especially when the writer described how restaurants for the
masses in Peking were filled with spits on the floor and tables only wiped when
they were obviously dirty.
- Collage/mosaic
- Strong ending
- The author made a lot of extensive research as seen from the details, the pieces of
information that required a lot of time. Effort in literary journalism makes it
highly credible.
May 14, 1988
Topics:
- US Bases
- Moro Rebellion
May 28, 1988
“Tribute to Virtue” (On Imelda Marcos) by Rustum Quinton
- Based on an interview
- Strong quotes, article bombarded with quotes
- Humanization of Imelda Marcos and showing her inner emotions, the most
unlikely and seemingly irrelevant quotes were included
- Memorable quotes
o “We symbolize Malakas at Maganda. Mr. Malakas is strong, patriotic, and
heroic… I strive for excellence and beauty. Kung pangit si Imelda, sino
ang maganda? Kung tanga si Marcos, sino ang matalino?
o “Kung wala siyang kayamanan, hindi niya kayang bilhin ang engagement
ring na ito.”
“Nun in China: A Nun‟s Three-Day Visit to Canton, China September 11-13, 1980”
-
-
First-person narrative
“I could not contain the awe and joy this experience made possible for me. I
wanted to bless all the Chinese men, women and youth we passed by along the
road but I could not use my hands for blessing because I knew my companions
could think me crazy or the Comminists could just forbid me if I did. So I kept
blessing everyone in my heart…”
Observations about the surroundings
Journal/logbook/diary entry
“This was what I deeply realized – all during this trip – that despite 30 years of
Communist rule, the Chinese have remained that gracious, simple, friendly people
we have always known them to be.”
July 23, 1988
- CPP-NPA: Losing Ground But Gaining Support?
- The Supreme Court on Trial
August 13, 1988
December 17, 1988
“Man of the Theater” by Dinah Roma
-
-
Lead: “He sits comfortably on a big soft chair throughout the interview. His legs
are propped on a layer of throwpillows as he lights one cigarette after another.
There is a graceful deliberateness in his motions of getting a cigarette from its
case, placing it between his lips, holding the lighter by the other hand while he
explains in his sonorous voice, ideas from his long years of teaching, directing
and translating. His words come out clearly, sustained in what seems a subtle yet
emphatic tone…”
On Rolando Tinio
Profile
January 7, 1989
-
-
Essay by Teodoro Locsin: Grace Under Pressure
o What must a man do to save his soul? How properly to meet his fate? Not
with courage only, but gracefully, like the torero dancing before the lethal
horns of the bull.
Occasional essays
February 4, 1989
- Dispute over ancestral lands
February 11, 1989
- Marcos wealth
- Special features mostly by foreign writers
- “Suffer the Little Children” by Jim Wallis
o A journey from the capital city of the First World‟s richest and most
powerful country to the homes of the Third World farmers. The distance
was long, and yet, in the 11 days I spent in the Philippines, the relationship
between the two places became glaringly apparent.
o Started with his arrival at NAIA
o From the point of view of a foreigner – “hot, polluted sprawl known as
Metro Manila”
o The article gave prejudices against the Marcos family – again. But not
direct
o Chronological structure with occasional flashbacks
o Desciption of characters‟ appearance and fashion
o The author tried to be as objective as possible, basing his story on his
observations
o It is a mixture of ideas: US imperialism, NPAs and religion
o “The women took a particular delight in the fact that I was newly married.
The mother of my house learned that fact in her first round of questioning;
her eyes sparkled, and she giggled as if she had just heard a very funny
secret. She proceeded to tell every woman who came into the house, upon
which they laughed with great glee.”
- The Filipino Spirit by Teodoro Locsin
o Started with a quotation “Abandon Hope Ye Who Enter Here” – That
inscription at the gate of Dante‟s Inferno may be written for the thousands
who dwell in Smokey Mountain. (strong!)
o Morning, noon and night – the stench, the flies, the rats scampering all
over than awful pile of garbage… If there is hell on earth, it is there in
Smokey Mountain
o Analogy, allusions, and hyperbole
o Garbage and malnutrition
o It went down to facts and figures.
March 4, 1989
- Imelda for President?
- Birth Control Pill
March 11, 1989
“A Yen for the Pinoy” Livewire comedian Hatsune Kondo
- Started with a quote
- Light topics
April 8, 1989
- Logging
Not only trained journalists can write creative nonfiction. Even politicians and critics
such as Sen. Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. was able to write a piece that can be considered as
creative nonfiction.
“The Big Flood” by Sen. Aquino, Jr.
-
-
Beginning: “It was, some held in mock horror of the apocalypse, American
seeress Jeanne Dixon‟s grim prophecy coming true. Miss Dixon had prophesied:
all of Luzon would go under water. Had she not predicted John F. Kennedy‟s
death by an assassin‟s bullets?”
Religion and tragedy, misconceptions on the causes of the typhoons (such as the
Americans, the French, the lost Sto. Nino, etc.)
But he enumerated factual bases
A rundown of the victims
Choice of pieces of stories
Unreliability of the government
April 22, 1989
- “Tale from the Philippine Woods” by Clayton Jones
o Personal narrative, first-person
o Strong descriptions up to the most detailed (calluses)
o About the Tasadays
o Featured in AP, NBC, and National Geographic
o Informative
o Narrated the ways of life of the tribe
o Tasaday hoax
o Dialogues
May 5, 1990
- Interview stories Q and A
- “Catch a Falling Star: Yet another day in Imelda‟s Trial” by Louise Molina
o “There is a saying which goes: When the going gets tough, the tough go
shopping! Well, from the evidence of the prosecution in the New York
trial of Imelda MARCOS, she was one tough lady. And she just wouldn‟t
let up buying everything expenseive… Everything noted in seven steno
notebooks which were introduced as evidence by federal prosecturos in
her racketeeting-fraud trial.”
May 12, 1990
- “A Life of Thrills and Chills” – NBI agents by Gigi Galang
o Humorous beginning
o It‟s a petty article but substantial.
o Stories from the point of view of an NBI agents through quotes
- Issues on logging
- CARP
World Without War by Teodoro Locsin
Article No. 25
Philippines Free Press
January 6, 1990
Category: Main List/”Articles”
Topic: Past and ongoing wars, a reflection
Title and Lead:
The title utilized the element of alliteration. Very idealistic by saying a world without
war. Seems like a title of a novel.
The lead used the elements of quotation, quoting a general of the American Civil War,
William Sherman, who said “War is hell.”
Followed by a quote by Dwight Eisenhower who said, “There is no glory in war worth
the blood it costs.”
Followed by the author‟s own view that there is a glory in war. Followed by Mussolini
saying the bombs he dropped on the Ethiopia blossomed like flowers.
Views by an English poet, Rupert Brooke, that war was wonderful. Followed by an
excerpt from his poetry.
Approach:
Analogies. “A man is unhappy with his wife; divorce is expensive or against his religion;
war is the solution.”
“War is exciting. It gives a meaning to a usually purposeless existence.”
Point of View:
Utilizing ideas of different people but from time to time, injecting his own conclusions.
Tone and Voice:
Very preachy but convincing. The arguments used by the writer convince the reader. It
sets a new angle.
The author was able to show the bright side of war, its gains and its advantages.
“War is so convenient, peace so complicated!”
The tone is like convincing his listeners in an alehouse.
Diaglogue through classic quotations from famous people.
Tha author is able to give examples of the different wars and relate them to the present
times.
“It is always easier to die than to live; the death wish is powerful; if man would live, he
must, somehow, go against his previous history; he must be transformed. This is easier
said than done.”
Questioning existing principles such as love, hate, and peace. And a bit of blasphemous.
Structure:
Collage and question structure
Rhetorical Technqiues:
Allusions, examples, analogy, and strong arguments and logic
Characters:
“Cold dialogues” through quotes
Ending:
Ended with mentioning the bible, that the choice of war or life depends on mankind.
Realizations: Literary journalism isn‟t just about telling a story of a particular event or
group of people or of a person. It‟s also about influencing people to think and ponder on
issues within a larger scale. A concrete storyline may not be necessary, it‟s all about
making the ideas very literary. It‟s all about the author narrating his points of views.
Surviving the Night Shift by Gamela Arpa
Article No. 26
Philippines Free Press
January 20, 1990
Category: Main list of articles
Topic:
Title and Lead:
The title shouts a diary entry and a personal experience story. Much like a feature story
title.
“Watching the red haze of the soon-to-rise morning sun, I sip my coffee-and-danish at the
still empty diner. After my 5am mean, of burger and fries, I walk leisurely to the bus
station, nodding hello to joggers breezing by. An early bird? Guess again. I‟m on my
home to try to get a good “night‟s” sleep.
The lead sets the mood in a descriptive fashion. Very scenic. It also introduces the
personality of the narrator.
Approach:
Started with herself and mentioning that the author is not alone but there are millions of
others who also work the night shift.
Perhaps the author was carried away and drawn through her shift that she has become a
flirt.
Case studies of people working on a night shift.
Jen – who had a good relationship with her boyfriend but because of her shift, the
relationship waned.
Point of View: first person
Tone and Voice:
Very informal and very conversational
Structure:
Journal structure, blog entry
Rhetorical Techniques:
Examples, case studies
Characters:
In action, anecdotes
Ending:
“ As for me, I still can take my ulcers and eyebags; and for as long as I can, I‟m going to
resist the temptation of staying up with the rest of the world and languish in the relief and
solace in not joining it.”
Other Topics:
- Diet tips for a busy working woman
- Again, the Marcos articles – man of deceit, etc.
- Interview stories, Q and A
The Clear Loser by Louise Molina
Article No. 27
Philippines Free Press
February 3, 1990
Category: Main List/”Articles”
Topic: On Gov. Rodolfo Aguinaldo and his followers conflict with the military
Title and Lead:
The title of very literary, it won‟t give an slightest hint to the readers on what the article
is all about.
The lead is very punchy. “He finally gave in.” It‟s a jargon for people who follow the
story.
Approach:
Telling nuts of stories
Quotes from Aguinaldo threating the military
Very action-packed
Dialogues were strong
Heroes and enemies
But the focus/angle is on Aguinald‟s camp
Point of View:
Third person
Tone and Voice:
Neutral, with little traces of partiality.
Structure:
Chronological Structure
Rhetorics:
Narration
Characters:
In action
Ending:
No real winner but the author said there is a clear loser. Symbolic and poetic ending.
Leaves the decision to the readers, like the Locsin piece on war.
Topics:
- The Soviet Union
- Recvering the Marcos Swiss banks deposits
An Interracial Marriage
Article No. 28
Philippines Free Press
February 10, 1990
Category: Main List/”Articles”
Topic: On interracial marriage
Title and Lead:
The title of very generic.
The lead is very attention-grabbing. “There was something Hollywoodish at the
beginning and ending of my interracial marriage.” It summarized the story so perfectly.
“In the beginning, there was this high fantasy romance with tantalizing celluloid
possibilities, complete with confectionery props, veiled settings and soft illusions.
Michael and I shared parallel starry-eyedness, in the fusion of two worlds and
personalities – which was novel, exciting and breathlessly physical. The yummy rapture,
alas, camouflaged insidious incompatibilities which surfaced in the course of eleven
years and corroded the once perfect coupling.”
Approach:
From the description of characters, the author went down to the issue of interracial
marriages. Saying it is already common nowadays compared to 30 years ago.
Telling a story informally, like telling it to a best friend over coffee.
Looking through the mind of the writer.
It‟s like her saying, learn from my mistakes, to the readers.
Point of View:
First person
Tone and Voice:
Conversational
She‟s fair, not only bombarding the reader with her complaints about her husband but
sharing his good qualities as well.
Structure:
Narration, chronological.
Rhetorics:
Her arguments are soft which make the reader think she‟s a sad woman.
Advice column-ish.
Characters:
The characters were described in the beginning with their commonalities, no explicit
description, but the use of implications.
Down to the profiling in terms of educational background.
Ending:
An advice. It‟s as if she would sob after telling her story.
1991
Stories are more straightforward, near to an newspaper analysis.
Topics:
- Saddam Hussein
- Change from Presidential to Parliamentary
- OFW issues
EDSA Now Just a Fading Memory by Encarnacion Abad
Article No. 29
Philippines Free Press
March 9, 1991
Category: Main List/”Articles”
Topic: On EDSA Revolution anniversary
Title and Lead:
The title is very reflective. Left a question that the readers hope the answered by the end
of the story.
“Monday, last week, the nation celebrated the 5th anniversary of the 100 shining hours of
EDSA ‟86 that once drew the eyes of the world to a small country that toppled a 20-yearold dictatorship through a bloodless revolution by the force of people power.”
Approach:
The angle was taken from the declining number of people who attend the EDSA
gathering.
Use of quotes that say the people have become disillusioned because of the government‟s
failure to introduce structural reforms.
Comments from some participants that say they are still loyal to EDSA celebration
The question posed in the title is answered.
It is a news story but tweaked to become narrative. It‟s out of convention, therefore
narrative journalism.
Point of View:
Third person
Tone and Voice:
Neutral and the author was able to find the story‟s balance
Structure:
Chronological in terms of the celebration‟s programme.
Rhetorics:
No strong rhetorics apart from the quotations.
Characters:
Introduced through their quotes and simple profiles such as age, work and condition.
Ending:
Ended through quotes from people who attended the celebration.
Again, there appeared the distinctive style of Locsin. It didn‟t die yet.
Occasional feature stories about Filipino maids, Lisa Macuja, Taekwondo, etc. But the
style is very newspaper-ish. Few literary techniques but more of presenting the facts
straignt.
Lisa Macuja: Ballerina of the People by ANjie Ureta
Article No. 30
Philippines Free Press
April 6, 1991
Category: Main List/”Articles”
Topic: On Lisa Macuja
Title and Lead:
The title is very feature story-ish
Lead: A short profile of Macuja‟s world-class talent, the duration of her experiences.
With few traces of literary journalism
Approach:
Profile-ish
Rundown of her awards and successes like a curriculum vitae
Ballet training background
With occasional “literary style”
- “This dream has brought Lisa out from the classy confines of local and
international theater halls, into such unlikely places as shopping malls, makeshift
barrio stages, school auditoriums and dusty basketball courts, dancing her heart
out t an audience which probably have never taken a peek at the red-carpeted
CCP. Have floor, will dance. And how!”
- “binabakya ang ballet”
Introducing ballet to the masses
Ocassional quotes from Lisa Macuja saying she loves the masses and defends them.
Connected ballet to the declining art support of Third World nations.
Point of View:
Third person
Tone and Voice:
Very elative of Lisa Macuja, it‟s like worshipping her. Admiring her. The spotlight of the
article is on her. Through in terms of being narrative and unconventional, there would
have been more rooms for the writer to write about Macuja without using the
conventional profiling of the subject.
Structure:
Illustrations and rundown of her achievements, boiling up to her views on society and art.
Rhetorics:
The main point of the article surely is not about her accomplishments but how our
country becomes so “poor” that it fails to remember art as an important factor in
uplifting the people’s spirits.
Characters:
Through her achievements, interviews, quotes. People know Lisa Macuja. It‟s all about
showing them details that have not yet been known.
Ending:
Ended with a memorable quote from Macuja. “I will always be dancing… and when I can
no longer dance, I will probably teach or direct. Basta, dito pa rin ako.”
Curtain call.
The Biggest Scam by Jose Luna
Article No. 31
Philippines Free Press
April 13, 1991
Category: Main List/”Articles”
Topic: On Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
Title and Lead:
Very imposing title. Shows the partiality of the author.
Lead
Magnanimous.
“The $2-billion structure sits on a bluff overlooking the South China Sea, its dust-covered
roofs and walls forming a mammoth monument to the ugly realities of Philippine society,
a testimony to the gigantic fraud and corruption that became a way of life and govt in an
impoverished Third World Country.”
Desciptive and pre-emptive of the successive styles. Long shot of the power plant in a
literary way.
Occasional literary techniques.
If before, PFP praised the administration, it now criticized the Cory Admin.
Approach:
From a great lead, it went down to discussion the isses, the key players the author alluded
to Davids and Goliaths.
Use of patutsadas and quotes.
Chronological retelling of the events that followed.
“Having like a dark cloud over the prospect of ending the financial hemorrhage from the
nuclear power plant is the President‟s veto power.”
Point of View:
Third person
Tone and Voice:
A journalist‟s tone. Factual and fair, yet relaying a message against the power plant
Structure:
Chronological and flashback to Marcos‟ interest in the deal, explanation of a process
Rhetorics:
Illustrations and allusions, enumeration of the deficiencies found in the plant after
reconstruction
Characters:
Through dialogues
Ending:
Symbolic and hanging.
I Saw the Death March by Romeo Arceo
Article No. 31
Philippines Free Press
April 13, 1991
Category: Main List/”Articles”
Topic: On the Death March – personal account
Title and Lead:
I Saw the Death March. Wow, an interesting read from someone who witnessed the
hostility.
Lead: “They started coming – through Bacolor, Pampanga, our town – on the morning of
April 13, 1942. From half-opened windows in our old, small house, we looked at them –
dead men on their feet, moving on in broken ranks.”
Approach:
Focused on the escape – for freedom- of the victims.
Narrative. Very dramatic to think that it came from a witness. Eye for details. The angle
was from a personal experience. Insertion of personal insights and opinion.
The fact that the author has some affinity with the victims made the article more
enthralling.
“One soldier made a dash for freedom across the street from where we were.”
“Not contended, he beat him mercilessly with a big stick until his head was a broken
mess.”
Point of View:
Tone and Voice:
Fearful. Traumatic but filled with passion. The author was able to control his emotion.
The article, and this is a good think, was not overwhelmed with too much emotion.
Structure:
Journal structure
Rhetorics:
Illustrations, narration
Characters:
Through action, through the eyes of the author
Ending:
“Today, little white crosses dot the spots where our soldiers fell and died all along the
death march route. But there are still places unmarked by white crosses – where some
soldiers are buried unknown. They may be lonely lying there all along, forgotten and
unknown.”
The Big Bang! by Edward Kiunisala
Article No. 32
Philippines Free Press
June 22, 1991
with the military Category: Main List/”Articles”
Topic: On Mount Pinatubo
Title and Lead:
Exclamatory title. Much like a cover story title of a foreign daily tabloid.
The lead, perhaps the author thought that there may be a lot of good pictured scenes that
deserved to be in the lead, described what the residents felt before the main show without
mentioning that there was an volcanic eruption.
The answer was delayed until the second paragraph.
Approach:
From the accounts of witnesses
“On the southwest side of Mt. Pinatubo, the day suddenly turned into night.”
The author made sure he‟s got everything covered.
Down to details of a victim such as the Aeta victim‟s death – Kiwkiw.
Telling the story of the eruption through eyes of witnesses. Things that the reader failed
to see in newspaper reports. Literary journalism also complements news reports and
make them deeper and more dramatic.
Point of View:
Third person
Tone and Voice:
Filled with adrenaline from the pre-eruption events to the evacuation without failing to
focus on details and mentioning government agencies and offices who helped. Painting
the picture of the towns.
Structure:
Chronological
Rhetorics:
Illustrations
Characters:
Through appearance, action, and dialogues
Ending:
Comedic ending.
In Botolan, Zambales, a woman who called herself Maria Makiling went around telling
people she cam to help lift the Filipinos from the poverty and sufferings. Then, Imelda‟s
voice suddenly came on over a local radio station hinting unabashedly that the spirit of
her husband was behind the natural disasters that have hit the country. I could swear that
the Maria Makiling in Botolan sounded just like Imelda Marcos in New York. Whom the
gods will destroy…
Controversial, huh?
1992
Ramos Administration
Topics:
- Detailed profile of Ramos
- Aquino‟s farewell address
- Ramos cabinet
- Mark Twain stories
- Showbiz stories
-
Power struggle in the Senate
Japan sex slaves
The Meaning of July 14 by Teodoro Locsin
Article No. 33
Philippines Free Press
July 18, 1992
Category: Main List/”Articles”
Topic: On
Title and Lead:
Very promising title again from Locsin hoping that it will be answered by the end of the
article
The lead introduced the United States‟ celebration of independence day with injection of
humor. And then introduced the Philippines day of celebration looking back to history.
Approach:
- Historical with an attempt to share his insights on July 14
- Style: July 14 is… July 14 is… July 14 is… (common to persuasive speeches)
Point of View:
Firstperson
Tone and Voice:
Persuasive, congratulatory and admirable of the French spirit
Structure:
No particular structure but a flow of ideas and arguments.
Rhetorics:
The common Locsin rhetoric that he may have developed on his own.
Characters:
No characters.
Ending:
A congratulatory message to the French nation on their celebration of independence.
Whew, next decade!!!
1993
-
1993 saw the evolution of the Philippines Free Press. There were already columns
on Cinema, Music, Theatre and other arts in the latter half of the magazine.
- There were also columns of Business
- Columns of Behavior
- Dance, Sports, Fashion
- Topics:
o Private armies
o Return of tuberculosis
- Outstanding leads: “What Poisoned the Rivers?,” an article on skin diseases but
Michael Duenas
o “One morning last month, refugees from volcanic mudflows in Zambales
woke up itching all over. They had skin rashes and sores. They tried
ointments from the first-aid stations in their camps, but nothing worked.
Soon they looked like lepers. And they knew what to blame for their
affliction – the floodwaters from the Santo Tomas and Macolcol Rivers.
Something had poisoned the waters.”
Featurized Narrative Journalism
Music Column: “When Jazz Goes Pogi” by Pio Ricky S. Torre
Article No. 34
Philippines Free Press
September 18, 1992
Category: Writers‟ Columns
Topic: On Brazilian Music
Title and Lead:
The author played with the title. So amusing.
The lead is very hippie, with little traces of the old styles of narrative journalism. It
creates a new form.
Approach:
Critical, praising, a review
A fan-boy article
Style:
“His (THieleman) artistry can be better appreciated as part of an ensemble – be it an
orchestra led by Quincy Jones, or a hasty lineup recording a “quickie” like the Sesame
Street and Old Spice cologne themes.
The birth of a new breed of creative nonfictionists.
“Thielemans set soaring lines loose, aiming for the song‟s forlorn beauty. Along the way,
he exhausts both feeling and technique – bouncing his solos off the syncopated samba
rhythms or dwelling in the melancholic numbers.”
Point of View:
Third person
Tone and Voice:
Informative and a know-it-all, seemingly, in Brazilian music
Structure:
Collage structure
Rhetorics:
Illustrations, examples, and enumerations
Characters:
Through music and outputs.
Ending:
Very swabe.
The Bridge: Third Person of Love by Teodoro Locsin
Article No. 35
Philippines Free Press
October 2, 1993
Category: Column on Books
Topic: On love and its different definitions
Title and Lead:
Very literary and symbolic
Lead: Very striking and outstanding.
“There is a bridge between the living and the dead: the dead remembered. Memory. The
Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder Ends:
<insertion of his lines>
Approach:
The books spoke for Locsin. Used passages from different books to drive home the point.
“Love is triangular. Not just the relation between the two lovers but a third being. Not an
intruder but the one their love creates. A third in the trinity of love. Love is not just
sexual congress. Sex may be had with money or by seduction. The seducer and the
seduced remain, however close „the joining of the two intestines‟… It is vulgarly called
„making love,‟ as if love were a commodity or merchandise… Love is not made. It makes
the lover another being. He is both himself and another, thinking, feeling as he never did
before. He does not possess love but is possessed by it.
The third entity in love is always with the lovers, apart but changing how they would feel
or think. A ghost: they would not be what they were without it. They were then what they
were without the spirit.”
Point of View:
Though the author used his own point of view, he showed the thoughts of the authors
through long quotations.
Tone and Voice:
Sweet. Philosophical. Deep
Structure:
The author recalls:
The lover:
The woman:
Letter
It‟s telling a story based on the characters from the books.
Story-within-a-story
Rhetorics:
Effective use of quotes
Characters:
From the books
Through actions.
Ending:
“Six points of view. Including that of the author‟s. The storyteller is part of the story. He
might try to keep himself out of it, but he is omnipresent in the tone and phrasing and, of
course, he can‟t. The story is the storyteller. He adds a final dimension. Without him,
with only the lovers, it might just be gossip. Not a poignant commentary on human
relationship. Its complexities. The lovers are not all of it.
Like a pebble thrown into a lake and the rippe it makes on it. A widening circle whose
end cannot be seen.”
Through Alien Eyes by Sean Bigay (Essay
Article No. 36
Philippines Free Press
October 9, 1993
Category: Essay
Topic: Colonial mentality
Title and Lead:
The title never gave a hint of what the essay will be all about.
Lead, the story of his grandaunt‟s birthday
Approach:
Conversational with occasional stories
Point of View:
First person
Tone and Voice:
Conversational
Structure:
Mosaic
Rhetorics:
Illustrations
Characters:
Ending:
“It‟ll be tough. Ah, well: God never promised us a rose garden.”
Masskara Festival: Coming Home by Jing Mable
Article No. 37
Philippines Free Press
November 5, 1994
Category: Supplement
Topic:
Title and Lead:
Coming Home
Lead: PR-ish
Approach:
Point of View:
Tone and Voice:
Structure:
Rhetorics:
Characters:
Ending:
2002
- Editor in Chief: Teodoro Locsin, Jr.
- PGMA controversies (spending the coco money, etc.0
- Terrorism
- Labor issues
- US military and abu sayyaf
- Style: subheads, more interpretative and analytical articles, kickers and decks
- Sections as headers: Entertainment, On Terrorism, Politics, On Crime, World
Stories
- Fewer articles
- Narrative article by foreign writers
- The focus of narrative writing has shifted from main issues and main news
stories to feature stories and reflective pieces on national and social issues.
-
See page 12 of January 19,2002, see page 34 of January 26, 2002, page 32 of
January 12, 2002,
“Reforms from the Water Up” by James Payawal Saspa
Article No. 46
Philippines Free Press
January 19, 2002
Category: Main List of Stories
Topic: On DOTC secretary Pantaleon Alvarez
Title and Lead:
The title, although without mention of facts, is straightforward. The reader knows the
writer will talk about reforms of a public official that seek to revise every detail of the
problems.
The lead (first two paragraphs) comes in as quotations and lines from the former DOTC
secretary with the interviewer. The lead ended with a punch with him saying “You also
see all the problems” of the country when you travel by land.
Approach:
- The writer‟s approach seems like he is the chronicler of the DOTC secretary in his
travels. The writer never forgets the details to the kind of car Alvarez used to
travel from Luzon to Mindanao.
- Use of clichés and truisms.
- Feeding of information, conventional style
- A litany of the problems of DOTC and his reforms
Point of View:
-
Third person
Tone and Voice:
- The writer exalts the subject through his reforms, it‟s similar to doing a
summarized accomplishment report of the subject, only in journalistic form.
Structure:
- Mosaic, explanation of a process
Rhetorics:
a. Illustrations/examples
b. Classification
c. Enumeration
d. Comparison and contrast
Characters:
- In action
Ending:
- The ending was advisory. It balanced everything after introducing the secretary‟s
reforms and accomplishments. It‟s a pambawi.
- “First World dreams. Third World problems. It is not necessarily bad to do the
first – just as long as you do it at the end of a long day working on the second.
Keep reaching for the sky and keep your feet on the ground. Or the water.”
“The Many Expenses of Citizen Juan” by Carmencita Acosta
Article No. 47
Philippines Free Press
January 26, 2002
Category: Main List of Stories, Essays
Topic: The traditions that “impoverish the nation”
Title and Lead:
The title is straightforward and catchy. Added was the subhead that said “here are the
traditions that impoverish the nation”
One is sure you wouldn‟t find a litany of technical terms but try to explain a pattern or
trend in a fun way.
Lead: Since it is an essay, the writer is not entitled to be restricted when it comes to the
laying down of facts. He/she needs not to be accurate. Therefore, the lead is
straightforward and assumptive saying many Filipino customs lead to proverty. Well, the
writer is entitled of her own opinion, though her insight is quite vulgar.
Approach:
- Birthday treat, pasalubong, baby party, blowout, fiesta, Christmas spirit
- Angle: a Filipino criticizing her fellow Filipinos
Point of View:
Tone and Voice:
- The subject is every Filipino citizen.
- The writer is critical of her subject, very preachy and inquisitive.
- Very hypothetical
- Very mataray.
- In a sense, witty, the 2002 version of Jessical Zafra, and humorous
o “Every time one foreign consultant‟s tour of duty is up, the collection box
is passed out for a specified amount with which to throw a despedida,
which also includes w goodbye gift. Thus, every employee who wants to
protect his reputation is pressured to dig into his thin wallet. The new
umbrella Citizen Juan sorely needs for the rainy season can be purchased
next month. In the meantime, a piece of plastic wrapped around his head
will do.”
Structure:
- Explanation of a process
Rhetorics:
- Enumeration, Examples
Characters:
- By action
- Was put in a very bad light
Ending:
- Still very advisory.
See page 10 of march 13, 2004
- Political alliances, 2004 elections , making taxes work for all, anti-Arroyo, can
Gloria arroyo survive the challenges of FPJ?, Arroyo and terrorism, the terrorist
threat: a global challenge by Eduardo Ermita,
Entertainment
- Tom Cruise, hellboy, movies, Star Wars, Nicole Kidman
Another Fire At Sea by Nati NAguid
Article No. 48
Philippines Free Press
March 13, 2004
Category: Main List, Tragedy
Topic: On the burning and sinking of Superferry 14
Title and Lead:
The title is preemptive of the angle used by the writer.
Lead: The blast roused Rodel Sardo from sleep. “The explosion rocked the cabin,” he
said. And then pandemonium broke out as some begun to engulf the second deck. … The
ship was on fire.”
Leads in 2000s were weaker than the leads in the articles of 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
Though the lead of this article paints a picture, the previous decades‟ leads are more vivid
and crisp.
Approach:
Angle – small bits of stories from people who were on the ship leading to the general
details of the tragedy
Some of the scenes were very dramatic though it was not sustained such as:
“Nelia Tubio was already on a lifeboat when she heard somebody calling to her from
above the catch something. She caught the bundle, which she realized contained a baby.
She cradled the infant in her arms for eight hours until the crying mother, Cathy
Amomas, found it at Coast Guard headquarters. Amomas feared that she wouldn‟t make
it, and decided to drop her infant son to Tubio on the lifeboat to save him.”
The story led to the accusation of terrorism (Abu Sayyaf) as the plotters of the fire.
“…the kidnap-for-ransom group Abu Sayyaf clained responsibility for it on February 29.
„We did it,‟ Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Soliman said in a telephone call to a radio
station in Mindanao. He said the Abu Sayyaf had sent a fighter to plant a bomb on
Superferry 14. „Your clue is the person who was Passenger 51,‟ Soliman said. „He is the
passenget in the Blue Room or the Blue Cabin, whatever it is. He‟s the man. That was his
mission. You find out who he was, then you have the identity.‟
Back to the return of the bodies from the wreck.
With an opinion, “More than that, the government needs to overhaul the shipping
industry.”
Point of View:
Third person
Tone and Voice:
Sympathetic toward the subject but antagonistic toward the plotters, as seen in the
wordings and arrangement of ideas
Structure:
Chronological, journal structure
Rhetorics:
Narrative, illustrations
Characters:
Through actions, anecdotes
Ending:
Left the audience hanging.
“But ships have kept burning and sinking since that time and now here is the Superferry
14 and nobody knows that happened.”
2005
Coconut issue, conflict between Arroyo and the Catholic Church, VAT bill
The 2000 issues of Philippines Free Press have minimal human interest topics, lacking in
human face. Most articles deal with the government and mainstream issues.
There are also narrative articles not written by journalists but by contributors from other
fields of knowledge. This article was written by a daughter of a doctor in the Outpatient
Social Service Department of the Makati Medical Center. She has been a Manggagamot
ng Bayan volunteer as of writing time.
There is Still Hope by Melissa Daian Alojipan
Article No. 49
Philippines Free Press
June 25, 2005
Category: Main Articles, Social Service
Topic: On the Manggagamot ng Bayan
Title and Lead:
The title, with the presence of the word “hope” denotes that the article would cry
problems to the readers but at the same time would shed a positive vibe in the end.
The lead is very reflective, as part of the writer‟s “journal” writing.
“In the four years I‟ve been affiliated with the group and the three missions I‟ve joined as
a student volunteer, I‟ve learned that each mission is unique, filled with lessons and
values to be learned and lived out.”
Approach:
The angle was from the point of view of the writer.
An overview of the project. Manggagamot ng Bayan
“Out there, we had to substitute monobloc chairs for dental chairs – since there was none
– in order to treat all the patients lining up under the hot sun. Our spit bowls were pails or
garbage cans that had to be emptied out at the end of the day. Our source of light was the
sun, and we had to work so close to each other than oftentimes unintentionally spat on by
nerve-blocked patients when they gargled.”
“But because of the preoccupation of the press with scandal in the government and the
worsening economic situation of the Philippines, we are too distracted to see than the
people still cling to hope for betterment and there is little that we can do to propagate it.”
Point of View:
First person
Tone and Voice:
Encouraging, deep, and reflective
There is hope.
Structure:
Journal
Rhetorics:
Illustrations
Characters:
From the eyes of the author
Ending:
Ended with thanking the people who “make themselves a light to others by sharing their
blessings and by inspiring people.”
Entertainment
- Superman Returns, the Devil Wears Prada
Topics:
- Sex education in high school and the church making abig fuss,
Pound for Pound, A Power Man
Article No. 50
Philippines Free Press
July 15, 2006
Category: Main List, Sports
Topic: Manny PAcquiao
Title and Lead:
“That‟s the way most Filipinos are. It‟s not chicken without gravy. Not chicharon without
suka‟t bawang. Not inihaw without kalamasi, toyo‟t sili. Filipinos don‟t treat their
sidings, well, on the side. Their kamatis, itlog na pula and pritong tilapia? Well, they
must all go together. To a certain extent it represents why most Filipinos sat on their seats
wondering if Manny Pacquiao‟s victory would‟ve been better if he had knocked out
Oscar Larios.
Some things just go together seamlessly when A + B doesn‟t make C, the alternative
doesn‟t quite convince. As for Pacquiao, people had been so accustomed equating his
wins to knockouts; split decisions or otherwise don‟t quite convince.”
Approach:
Pacquiao should have knocked Larios out. Some writers have been so adventurous in
thinking of fun angles.
Mga kuro-kuro kung bakit hindi na-knock out ni Manny si Larios.
“There are two perceptions, however, that are making some people think otherwise:
Pacquaio‟s status and the low regard for Larios. If anything, people‟s expectations of a
knockout deciding the match were caused by Pacquiao himself. Coming off a Morales
demolition? For nearly 10 years, always winning by knockout? Pacquiao‟s awesome
power? Pacquaio‟s reputation precedes him by a mile.”
Point of View:
Third person and second person in its conversation with the reader
Style:
“His (Larios) nerves were steely enough not to give in to the overwhelming home-court
disadvantage, and his jaw backed that pride. And nowhere was than more evident than
what he fell once in the seventh and again in the 12th when he chose to get up and fight
again.”
Tone and Voice:
Arrogant and highly expectant of Pacquiao
It‟s like saying, „That‟s it?”
Structure:
Explanation of a process, collage, QUESTION structure
Rhetorics:
Comparison and contrast, illustrations
Characters:
Ending:
A full circle
“Everything else, including the debate about whether he should‟ve knocked out Larios, is
just gravy.”
Now, we see the author‟s opinion and POV.
Also ended with visions of what would happen AFTER the fight.
New layout of the Philippines Free Press, smaller magazine, lesser pages
A more balanced content between hard news and feature stories. Shorter stories
“Living Healthy in New York” by Monica Locsin
Article No. 51
Philippines Free Press
November 1, 2008
Category: “My Corner of the World” personal experiences
Topic: Despite the sinking economy, fresh and delicious and affordable foods can still be
found in NY
Title and Lead:
“Being healthy is a lifestyle. It is a decision, a change, and a challenge.”
Approach:
From organic food discussion, a way of the author‟s food lifestyle – explanation
“Staying in shape and eating healthy have become a subculture in New York. People
walk to work or hit the gym during lunch break. Some of the big companies offer a gym
in the office building to reduce worker stress, a most welcome incentive for healthconscious employees. Walking around the city, you see people jogging with their iPods,
carrying gym bags, walking their dogs, and farmers markets crowded on weekdays.”
Angle: Living a healthy lifestyle in an unhealthy world midst economic breakdown
To an angle back in the Philippines
“When I was home for the summer, I noticed that more and more Filipinos were
becoming health-conscious. The boxing gym never felt so full before and it was the first
time I saw so many produce markets such as Market Market at theFort…”
Point of View:
First person
Tone and Voice:
Light and happy
Structure:
Journal structure
Rhetorics:
Illustrations, explanation
Characters:
Ending:
A smooth ending, it was not strong, as if it‟s just part of every idea in the paragraph.
“Barrack Husseun Obama, US President” by Monica Locsin
Article No. 52
Philippines Free Press
November 15, 2008
Category: My Corner of the World
Topic: Obama and the Filipinos
Title and Lead:
Approach:
“A physician in Connecticut whose comments the Free Press sought emailed to us that
she and her husband voted for MccAIN, „because we consider ourselves social
conservatives on issues like abortion and stem cell research. We also disagree with
Obama on his health care plans and the idea of spreading the wealth, which I feel is
socialistic and, perhaps, a step toward Marxism…”
Point of View:
Tone and Voice:
Structure:
Rhetorics:
Characters:
Ending:
PHILIPPINE GRAPHIC
1990
Editor in Chief: Nick Joaquin
Executive Editor: Jose Lacaba
Managing Editor: Cesar Carpio
Asssociate Editor: Manuel Almario
Marcosian Flashbacks by Nick Joaquin
Article No. 53
Philippine Graphic
June 18, 1990
Category: Maiden Issue Specials
Topic: The Marcos couple according to former Sen. Manuel Manahan
Title and Lead:
The title gives the reader the idea of the topic.
This may not be Joaquin‟s best lead but it is still striking, painting the credentials of
Manahan in simple words.
“Many are the hats he has worn – as journalist, entrepreneur, freedom fighter, politico,
business manager, legislator, and rural reformer. Today he is an elder statesman and still
the champion of the barrio emancipation. And also still in that room at the top as business
executive.”
The passage of time.
Style: He was able to introduce his subject without the using the usual style of breaking
down information but with narrative and literature.
“The first two years of Marcos in Malacanang was Manny‟s last two years in the Senate.”
Why pick someone who hasn‟t worked with Marcos for so long? This is the magic of
Nick Joaquin,
Approach:
From the POV of the former Senator
The moment he learned Marcos was the declare Martial Law. The details were crisp.
Angle of the sugar producers‟ reaction to Martial law.
Point of View:
Third person omniscient
Tone and Voice:
The writer became the voice of the subject telling nuts of conversations with Marcos such
as this one:
“Early one morning he was out in his yard when the telephone rang. It was President
Marcos calling from Baguio.
„Manny, I want you to help me.‟
„Help you how, Mr. President?‟
„In tranquilizing Central Luzon I want you to resume the survey yu made of it and to
implement the course of action you suggested. To accomplish this, I‟m going to make
you a member of the Cabinet.‟
Many was startled. On the one hand, the offer was tempting; he was being given a chance
to continue, in a powerful position, the labor of his he considered the most important:
rural reform. But on the other hand were his increasing misgivings about the Marcos
character…
…So he said to Marcos: „Mr. President, you don‟t have to make me a member of your
Cabinet just to get a further survey of Central Luzon. I‟m willing to do that work for free.
Just make me a one-peso-a-year man.”
This style by Joaquin cleaned his hands of possible imbalance in the article. He let the
dialogues speak for themselves.
Structure:
Mosaic, Flashback
Rhetorics:
Conversation between characters
Characters:
Through credentials and dialogues
Ending:
The ending was quite opinion-driven.
“This hardly squares with the picture of her as an innocent housewife ignorant of the
jockeying at the trough.”
Richard Gomez: The Women in His Life
Article No. 55
Philippine Graphic
September 3, 1990
Category: Features
Topic: On Richard‟s women
Title and Lead:
The title says it all.
“A light breeze scattered dead leaves around the church parking lot. Nothing else stirred.
It was so peaceful and quiet, one would think there was a funeral.”
The lead gives the reader almost no idea of the story. Imagery was used. At first glance,
the lead seems to have been pulled from a literary piece. No, it‟s literary journalism
Style:
The writer is unafraid of using exclamatory expressions such as “Lights! Camera! Big
name stars, wilted, errr, waited in their respective Hi-Aces…”
It‟s more of showing the characters‟ movements.
Filled with verbs which made the article so active.
She was very detailed.
“Minutes after Laurice disappeared, a light grey Nissan with two radio antennas drove up
and out stepped Richard Gomez. Told of what had happened, he waited while a search
party went looking for Laurice. After a few minutes, the cast was told: the wedding
(scene) was off.”
Introducing Richard is very unconventional.
“A rather fragile childhood may have had something to do with this. Consider Richard‟s
family background:
Father: Ed Gomez, car racer
Mother: Stella Suarez. We all know how she made mark in the movies.”
Approach:
Richard‟s other women. More of like an investigative piece on Richard. Interviewing
friends and people involved.
But it also tackled about his family background.
A profile of Richard in the eyes of his friends.
Point of View:
third person with bits of first person
Tone and Voice:
Funny. Informal. Much like a friend toward the subject and readers.
“The Sunday after that, after having stayed off questions on their wedding plans, and well
into her final number, Sharon disappeared and reappeared with a bemused Richard
Gomez in tow. He hugged and kissed her. She serenaded him. He held her hand and
looked into her eyes. She finished her song looking wistful. He planted a kiss on her
forehead. She slipped an arm around her waist. Together they walked into the show‟s
closing credits.”
It‟s like watching close-up scenes from a movie.
Richard is showbiz‟s Henry VIII.
Structure:
Mosaic, Explanation of aprocess, chronological
Rhetorics:
Illustrations, conversatios
Characters:
Richard is such a sick playboy in this article.
Actions, dialogues, eyes of others
Ending:
A very humorous ending. From Richard saying some actors would delay their answer in
the dialogue for more camera exposure, the writer said:
“What about movie actresses who don‟t do movies anymore, but who insist on the
exposure? No comment.”
Many of Nick Joaquin‟s stories profile personalities such as Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and
former president Fidel Ramos. Insurance commissioner Adelita Vergel de Dios. Alfredo
Lim.
The Fury of the Gods by Dana Batnag
Article No. 56
Philippine Graphic
May 20, 1991
Category: Features
Topic: On Mt. Pinatubo eruption
Title and Lead:
Title: The Fury of the Gods
Lead: The Aetas called it the gayang. It was a big stone at the top of Mount Pinatubo
which they considered sacred, and which the old ones had told them to watch closely.
Once the stone was moved, the ancients had warned them, the mountain would change.
In that way, or how, no one knew.
Approach:
The legend/religious angle of Mount Pinatubo eruption
From a mountain that supports their daily living to a mountain that has become a source
of fear. One could image how extensive the eruption was, spanning a generation.
The Aetas blamed the geothermal wells the Philippine National Oil Company drlled into
the mountainside for the suddent change in Mount Pinatubo‟s temperament.
The approach was more explanatory than narrative.
Point of View:
Third person
Tone and Voice:
Sympathetic towards the characters, the Aetas.
Through action and dialogues
Structure:
Chronological, flashback
Rhetorics:
Illustration, explanation/presentation
Characters:
Through action and dialogues
Ending:
Smooth ending
The 1990s in Philippine Graphic delved more on stories about people – prominent ones
particularly.
Manila, My Manila by Nick Joaquin
Article No. 57
Philippine Graphic
June 17, 1991
Category: Main List of Articles
Topic:
Title and Lead:
Manila, My Manila: Season of Advent
Manila took a long time to make. What is now its group used to be sea. The sea reached
as far as the present towns of Mandaluyong (“a place of waves”) and Makati (“a place of
tides”).
Style:
Wonderful imagery: “This became the site of the City of Manila. The triangle can be
imagined as a fan: the handle is Pasig town; the rim of the fan is the arc between Pasay
and North Harbor.”
“No one knows how long it took to turn sea into land. But we do know who built a site
for Manila.
The builder was the Pasig River.”
“Manila happenings have a national effect. When Manila sneezes, the Philippines catches
cold.” AWWW!
Approach:
The story does not tackle a national issue, it tackles about a birth of a city. Who would
dare to ask how Manila was formed, and who would dare to research and say Manila was
once a sea?
“Certain barangay expeditions sailing up from the south and cruising the western coast of
Luzon came upon an opening in the shoreline. This entrance was partly blocked by an
island that rose high like a rock. Rowing past this “door,” the migrants found themselves
inside a big and beautiful bay, almost perfectly round and almost totally enclosed. Here
the water was calm and the breeze was gentle, for this was haven shut off from the
storminess of the China Sea outside. Down to the waters of the bay grew the forest
primeval, so that everywhere you looked you saw a world of blue and green.
With what awe must our forefathers have gazed on all that purity and silence and
loveliness!”
It narrated the origins of specific places in Manila such as Quiapo from the water cabbage
cuyapo, Mayhaligue island that is now the district of Sta. Cruz, and Maynilad for Manila.
Flashback to the coming of the Malays. A long narrative.
Point of View:
Third person, with first person thoughts
Tone and Voice:
Story-telling
Structure:
Explanation of a process, flashback, Story within a story (SOliman‟s story)
Rhetorics:
Illustration/examples, strong analogy
Characters:
Ending:
Would Manila, just risen from the ashes, burn down to ashes again?”
Unforgettable episodes in „Japanese times‟ by Jean Edades
Article No. 58
Philippine Graphic
July 8, 1996
Category: Reminiscence column
Topic:
I remember these incidents vividly as I write this now at age 88.
Title and Lead:
The story is divided into subparts, “Last glimpse of Manuel Arguilla,” “Two incidents on
Herran street,” “Saving our bananas,” among others
After December 26, 1941, when Manila had been declared an Open City, residents were
free to move about except for a few thousand Americans crowded into the campus of the
University of Sto. Tomas. Later, missionaries, the aged, and American wives of Filipinos
were at large.
(Sounds intriguing?)
Approach:
Harsh Japanese stories though the author‟s friends and colleagues.
Few descriptions. It was more of telling stories smoothly. You don‟t tell stories to your
friends with so many descriptions, right?
Point of View:
First person
Tone and Voice:
Structure:
journal, flashback, mosaic
Rhetorics:
Illustrations, storytelling
Characters:
Through actions and dialogues
Ending:
Ended with her story of her first taste of American prosperity, with the Americans
handing out food supplies for the family to taste “rich mouth-watering” pancakes they
missed during the war.
1996
Eic: Joaquin
Editorial Director: Gregorio Brillantes
Editor: Manuel Almario
Managing Editor: Monica Feria
Assoc Eds: WIlfredo Baun, Maria Eloisa Lazaro
There are also stories that break a personality, more than they make them, such as these:
A Hero‟s Saga Revisited: The General At Sunset by Gregorio Brillantes
Article No. 59
Philippine Graphic
Sep. 6, 1999
Category: History
Topic: As twilight fell on the Revolution, the Republic and Palanan, Emilio Aguinaldo
still could give a soldier‟s proud salute – to victor and vanquished, to his people and
country and the heroic past, and perhaps the banners and battles of the new century.
Title and Lead:
The title is a landscape painting.
Lead: “Inglorious was the end of the revolutionary road at Palanan.
It could have been otherwise. Filipinos who, even now, would salute the uncommon
courage and tenacity of their countrymen fighting two empires for freedom and homeland
at the turn of the century, may still find cause to regret the way the high road ended. A
different highway, another an more triumphant Camino Real, might have lad away for the
General from that infamous town and time, nearly a hundred years ago.”
Approach:
There was one dramatic moment in the article which depicted Aguinaldo in one of the
down times. Here:
“‟…Don Emilio‟s clothes hung sodden from the heavy surf, and he looked, frightened, at
the swarm of shouting sailors and the American officers who waited nearby to receive
their distinguished prisoner.‟
Never had the Commander of the Revolution and the President of the First Republic
looked so small and fragile, so defeated and forlorn, so alone.
Then – „He summoned up a nervous smile.‟
And – this singular detail is nowhere to be found in the memoirs of the Palanan
protagonists, the US Army‟s battle reports on the dispatches of the war correspondents,
but a Single Corps photograph, says Bain, captured it: “He saluted.”
The General strained up the gangplank and stood and paused on the deck of the American
warship and – saluted. Who or what did he salute?
Point of View:
Tone and Voice:
Structure:
Rhetorics:
Characters:
Ending:
Article No. 60
Philippine Graphic
October 11, 1999
Category: Government column
Topic: On Mayor Lito Atienza‟s visions for Manila
Title and Lead:
Lead: October in Manila! That was the ache in the heart of Manilenos recalling in exile
how festive was the tenth month of the year in the native city. To be precise: the native
city before the war. Ante-bellum was a different city, a different calendar.”
Nick Joaquin‟s aim, as in many of his writings, is not to entice the reader by lead. It‟s all
about bringing the reader to the exciting part/s.
The article began with the fiestas celebrated by the Manilenos.
Approach:
Started from a flashback of what Manila looked like before the war with the bustling
business areas such as Binondo and Divisoria. International roving circus at the Opera
House.
How did Lito Atienza come to scene? Not until the middle of the story.
“But loveliest was the lost city‟s quality: a mix of the benign, the decent, the joyous. Too
young to have known it, Mayor Lito Atienza nevertheless shows he shares his elders‟
nostalgia for that other Manila, as when he speaks of reviving the joyousness of Manila‟s
parish fiestas.”
Much of the article was devoted to long quotes from Atienza.
Point of View:
Third person
Tone and Voice:
The author has not shown any attachment to the character. All he did what to write what
he said. Though the article sounded like a campaign material for Atienza.
Structure:
Collage
Rhetorics:
Through quotes.
Characters:
Through quotes and (planned) actions. We never got to know Atienza‟s personality.
Ending:
Ended with a quote saying Manila will be one of the greatest cities of the world. More
than ten years has passed and still, there is nothing.
From time to time, Nick Joaquin would write stories for Philippine Graphic, such as this
2002 article:
UST gears for “Academic 400” by Nick Joaquin
Article No. 61
Philippine Graphic
November 25, 2002
Category: Cover Story
Topic: On UST‟s 400th year
Title and Lead:
The title is no different from ordinary news.
The lead was more straightforward and direct. Now, Nick Joaquin wanted to grab the
readers at once.
“At the first university not just in the Philippines but in the hemisphere, Santo Tomas U
transcends local time and national space, being the earliest transplant in the east of the
groves of academe from the west.”
Nick Joaquin tried to be straightforward in his writings but can‟t. There are still traces of
his old literary style.
Approach:
UST may be first, but not first in rate.
Why UST lags behind surveys?
The writer who tends to present information in a very subtle way now does it like most
writers do.
Here is how the first campus of the school was described:
“First campus of the school was the interior courtyard of the old motherhouse in
Intramuros, between the Ayuntamiento and the Dominican Church. The church was
gothic; the Ayuntamiento, a marble hall; but Santo Tomas was tropical baroque, or, as
termed today, Antillan: masonry the ground floor, hardwood the upper story, and a
topping of red-tile roof. The entrance was a short interior driveway leading to the square
patio roofed by the sky and bordered (if memory saves) by a corridor on which opened
the classrooms on the ground floor.”
Profile of UST and UST Rector Tamerlane Lana
What‟s in the name?
“Tamerlane, the Muslim cripple who crashed the Muslim world and medieval Russia, is
hardly the patron saint for a peaceful Bicolano whose conquests hug the realms of mind
and spirit. To his hometown of Legazpi came the Dominicans in the late 1960s to take
over what‟s now Aquinas Univeristy, when the young Tamerlane was in prep there.”
Point of View:
Third person
Tone and Voice:
Admirable of the subject
Structure:
Flashback, Story-within-a-story
Rhetorics:
Illustration, narration
Characters:
Through credentials and dialogues
Ending:
From Rector to parish priest
“But after this, he wants a next that‟s modest and simple. „I‟d like to be a parish priest,‟
he says.”
2002
Nick Joaquin is now Corporate Editor-in-chief
Editorial Director: Ernesto Tolentino
Managing Editor: Inday Espina-Verona
The magazine is now divided into Nation, Cover Stories, Business, Regular Articles
Stories are more analytical and explanatory.
Such as: Will OFWs save democracy? By Jose Cortez, Filipinos are getting hungry,
articles on wage increase, and NGOs
A huge part on business stories.
Cagayan whitewater fun by Yvette Lee
Article No. 62
Philippine Graphic
December 16, 2002
Category: Travel
Topic: Trip to Cagayan
Title and Lead:
Lead: “The gang meets up at the Hapchang Restaurant on West Avenue, rushing through
platters of food. Everyone gulps down Bonamine as insurance against motion sickness on
the overnight ride up to Tuguegarao, jump off point for a weekend communing with
nature.”
Approach:
A retelling of her travel experiences particularly the ziplining, kayaking
Point of View:
First person
Tone and Voice:
Filled with adrenaline, the travel memories are so fresh inside her mind
“Pulling off the noisy and bustling North Expressway, we pass towns quiet in sleep and
soon enter stretches of empty roads. The full moon throws the mountains in stark relief
and bathes fields and clouds in silver light. You almost forget it‟s a warm, tropical
country; the view looks like a New England fall, steeped in the season‟s first frost.”
“Mist covers the cliffs. From the broad riverbank, thick jungle rises. Dragonflies flit just
above the water, the sun glinting off their wings.”
Structure:
Rhetorics:
Characters:
Ending:
2004
Editorial Director: Inday Espina-Varona
Counting Our Blessings by Krip Yuson
Article No. 63
Philippine Graphic
January 12, 2004
Category: Commentary
Topic: On New Year; the Filipino vision and perspective - optimism
Title and Lead:
Approach:
Krip is so great at making witty comments about topics such as:
“Imagine. Now we have a heretofore inconceivable cast of unlikely candidates for the top
post in the land.
One, an incumbent who has yet to be elected to the position, and now seeks illegitimate
redemption.
Two, an honorary woman who wears flowery Hawaiian polo shirts.
Three, a high-school dropout who became a movie action hero and still wears archaic
sideburns
Four, a TV broadcaster who didn‟t do much in the Senate but now hopes to rule the
country, when he could have gained experience first by becoming president of the
broadcast company that launched his career.
Five, a former police general with a dubious human rights records, who has also declined
to distinguish himself in the Senate by thinks he has the „K‟ to go for the big time, if only
by virtue of having a war chest.
What a cast. What a country.”
Then he segues to the other news for the country on the peso-dollar exchange rate and
Manny.
Then to sports, Kris-Joey relationship, F4
“Truly we are blessed, with a flourishing cityscape rife with pink urinals,constant
flyovers in progress, alternative bus schemes, U-turn junctions, and an MMDA who‟s as
folksky as all get-out that he can afford to say trees are bad for the metropolis.”
Point of View:
Tone and Voice:
Structure:
Rhetorics:
Characters:
Ending:
Hong Kong in the Sixties by Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo
Article No. 64
From her book, “I Remember… Travel Essays”
1992
Category: Travel Essay
Topic: On her trip to Hong Kong and her encounter with a Filipino performer there
Title and Lead:
A title that says it all, though it gives much expectations to the readers as whether the
author will really try to show what was Hong Kong in the 60s in such a very compact
story
The lead was short, and emphasized that the author first travel abroad would be in Hong
Kong.
Approach:
Started with how she got the grant to travel to Hong Kong. She and her younger sister
had just graduated, and their presents had presented them a tour of Hong Kong and Japan
as a graduation gift.
Always like analogous mentions of movies comparable to the experience.
Included her experiences with the hotel, as most first-time travelers would do. “… My
sister and I were most impressed by the fact that all thirteen floors were fully airconditioned. It also had a dining room called The Harlequin, where, in the evenings,
diners were entertained…”
Nuts of stories that add up to the drama such as anecdotes on the loss of her sister.
“It is a feeling that remains in my mind, like a fragrance will I Iinger about a room even
when the person wearing it has long since gone. The sights and sounds hover about the
shadowy edges of my memory, growing dimmer with the passing seasons. But the feeling
is still so sharp and clear, that I recognize it today and can give it a name. “
Amazing use of details through observation having noticed a young man in red cardigan,
vividly described his looks, the lady in sleek back, etc.
The story never showed a picture of Hong Kong in the sixties but rather, focused on a
story, that is, the Hi-Ball night club which featured a Filipino band group.
Use of flashbacks.
Diagloues with the band member, much like reading a portion of a novel .
Point of View:
Third person, omniscient
Tone and Voice:
Soft and conversational, the personality of the writer was shown, she was like a sweet
storyteller. Sympathetic of the subject. The literary journalism version of GMA News
Online‟s Pinoy Abroad stories.
Structure:
Flashback, parallel, journal
Rhetorics:
Comparison and contrast, allusions, analogy
Characters:
In action, physical appearance, dialogue, anecdotes
Ending:
Ended with the author pointing out the condition of Filipinos in Hong Kong, though it
only zoomed into one story, it magnifies the whole population of Filipinos in Hong Kong
Street Drama in Athens by Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo
Article No. 65
From her book, “I Remember… Travel Essays”
1992
Category: Travel Essay
Topic: An eye-witness account of how foreigners behaved in Athens
Title and Lead:
Title is intriguing, very general, at least it narrows down the topic
The lead shows the usual Hidalgo, pointing out that she had never been to Greece before.
“We had neither friends nor acquaintances there.”
Approach:
The author, despite her efforts to write a travel piece, never forgets to mention facts,
places, and landmarks, in sporadic insertions.
“The natives – young men and women as attractive as starlets or models – appeared to
congregate at the Kolnaki Square in downtown Athens, preening and strutting and
lingering endlessly over their cups of coffee or their glasses of ouzo in the brilliant
Mediterranean sunlight.”
The author has made it clear, early in the story, that her aim was to “study the
foreigners.”
Many parts of the story were devoted to observations. Very omniscient. Eavesdropping.
The author included a verbatim (because it was in quotes) conversation of people she
heard nearby. The conversations may sound irrelevant, but perhaps the author was trying
to say something else.
The action, and the main highlight of the story, came in the middle of article. Of course,
the author introduced the “characters.”
Use of verbs to show strong action, it was very moving, with dialogues.
- Strong yank
- Screaming
- Chased
- Shrieked
The author was unafraid to quote curses.
It was so much action-packed.
Point of View:
- Third person, omniscient
Tone and Voice:
Structure:
- Story-within-a-story
- Collage
Rhetorics:
-Illustrations
Characters:
- Action
- Physical appearance
- Dialogues
Ending:
- The ending was very weird, after the „actors‟ have been pacified, there was a
mention of the author that it might be a dream, because of the hour being late.
Culture Shock in New York by Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo
Article No. 66
From her book, “I Remember… Travel Essays”
1992
Category: Travel Essay
Topic: Encounter with mysterious New York
Title and Lead:
The title gives you a sense of why.
Again, the story started with how the author perceived New York at first, through
postcards, movies, pictures, etc. mentioning Audrey Hepburn having a breakfast at
Tiffany‟s, Cary Grant dashing across the lobby of the Plaza, Marilyn Monroe‟s skirt
billowing in the wind on Lexington Avenue, and of course, Frank Sinatra going on and
on about the city that never sleeps.
Approach:
Followed by the point that it was NEVER the New York City she saw in 1987. From the
point of view of the tourists.
The author posed questions through statements, that even her was puzzled of what New
York was.
“This New York is different. And that differences is the gap between „passing through‟
and „living here.‟
An interesting style was this:
“The „hardship‟ is partly the result of the cost of living, which is so high, that salaries
which elsewhere stretch a long way, are here barely adequate for a decent life. And partly
the attitude of the natives, who tend to regard all foreigners as immingrants, legal or
otherwise, which is a harsh comedown for people who are used to being treated as both
diplomats and saviors. And partly everything else. The sheer size of the city. The
underlying tension. The pace. The astonishing squalor. The racial violence. The hordes of
homeless people slumped just outside the overpowering Trump Tower and the even more
extravagant Hemsley Palace. The feeling that nobody gives a damn.”
Point of View:
Third person
Tone and Voice:
From the length of the paragraphs, the heaviness of words and ideas, we can see how the
author struggled through her experiences in New York. What she saw as a paradise in
images and postcards actually had its own blemishes.
The subject was New York itself, she was the main character. And from her writing, she
was a mysterious woman.
Structure:
-Collage, question
Rhetorics:
-Comparison and contrast, illustrations
Characters:
- Through the eyes of others
Ending:
- The ending was a consolation for author herself, by mentioning the best shops
(books and art shops), in New York.
- But one can still feel the sadness in the writing.
Confessions of a QC House Husband by Afred Yuson
Article No. 67
From his book, “Confessions of a Q.C. House-husband and other Privacies”
1991 – book published
The column was from Manila Chronicle, published November 6, 1988
Category: Column
Topic: The author‟s shopping experiences
Title and Lead:
The title Confessions of QC house-husband will make one thing he‟ll go crazy over his
wife, complain about cleaning the bathroom, etc. But no, it‟s more of a personal travel
experience.
The lead preempts the personality of the author: “I‟m a tough guy, so I live in that part of
Quezon City called Teachers‟ Village.”
Which was proven as one reads the article.
Approach:
The writer focused on his one-day shopping spree, buying grocery items, which usually is
the task of a housewife (perhaps, it is here that his “confessions” began), hopping through
different markets and grocery stores, and comparing prices.
It‟s more of a personal take. Not a blabbing of national issues nor giving a human face.
However, there were bits of mentions of Rightists and Leftists, though we were not able
to see where the author was situated.
New and fresh info! Such as:
“But when I‟m frazzled for time due to a high demand for poetry, then I simply walk five
minutes to Eunilaine‟s across the famous Leftist hangout of a restaurant called Trellis
with its celebrated sisig.”
Point of View:
First person
Tone and Voice:
Self-centered
Structure:
Explanation of a process, collage, journal
Rhetorics:
Illustration, enumeration
Characters:
Through action
Ending:
“Late at night after the basketball games, I lie to the missus and say it‟s been a horrible
day, or it‟s been a great day, or it‟s a life, or it‟s the life. Then I clamber out of bed to
change someone‟s disposable, and get back in again for the final rite of rendering
scientific massage for hours on end…”
A Personal History of Corned Beef by Afred Yuson
Article No. 68
From his book, “Confessions of a Q.C. House-husband and other Privacies”
1991 – book published
The column was from Manila Chronicle, published August 20, 1989
Category: Column
Topic: The author‟s fetish for corned beef
Title and Lead:
The lead was perfectly crafted, with analogy and allusions.
“If the secret of Elvis‟ success was his fondness for peanut-butter-and-banana
sandwiches, then mine may be said to rest on a weakness for corned beef.”
Approach:
“I can kill and I have died for corned beef. Not a week passes by without this reddish
eminence making its way from some can into my gullet, at least twice or thrice. It‟s the
adobo of my life, my bread and butter, my gustatory crutch and favored staple.”
Orgasm with corned beef.
I particularly like his style of venerating corned beef as a religious sacrament. Nothing
would be a holy as a Libby‟s corned beef with the legendary key stuck on its side.
“The can opener (a simple twister) glued to this tinny treasure chest was the key to
unlocking the secret of the seven seas, if not the universe.”
“Snapping the twister-key off the can was an invivation to the rest of the ritual. This was
the key of keys one held in one‟s hand. It would require no plunging effort, no thrusting,
or pumping motions that raised a dangerous, serrated edge curling up to threaten your
fingers. No, the key was simply fit over an extra centimeter of tin that allowed for the
unlocking of this can of promise.”
“Tears welled in my eyes, seeing the stillborn corned beef through that sorry-looking slot
still captive in its tin cage.”
Humor as well. “…Or reveal your boondocks origin as some yaya once did by turning it
the wrong way, thus breaking off they key after unwinding a short strip.”
Preparing a corned beef meal as a ritual
Down to comparing and downgrading other brands of corned beefs as impostors in
grocery stores.
Point of View:
First person
Tone and Voice:
Witty, effortlessly funny, intelligent
Structure:
Explanation of a process
Rhetorics:
Parallel construction and allusions, analogy
Characters:
Ending:
“The memory of Libby‟s, like Elvis, prevails. You can have your Angus or your Kobe,
I‟ll take mine corned, preferably tinned, with the ritual key glued on the side.”
All The Dust of Our Lives by Afred Yuson
Article No. 69
From his book, “Confessions of a Q.C. House-husband and other Privacies”
1991 – book published
The column was from Manila Chronicle, published June 22-28, 1991
Category: Column
Topic: Post-mount Pinatubo eruption and how his family collected the dust
Approach:
Here, we saw the author‟s pensive side. There were few to no humors found in the article.
It‟s more of a post-mortem.
From the POV of city-dwellers who experienced the dust from the provinces.
“We carried aluminum ladles, and a plastic jar that had once stored peanut brittle… Such
was our shared ritual of June 1991… I told the boys we had to keep part of that reminder,
A souvenir from the volcano. We would wait until what we had collected had dried up,
then transfer it into small bottles, all labeled, „Volcanic Ash: Mt. Pinatubo Eruption, June
1991‟.”
“… A few of the bottles we could mail off to friends and relations abroad, so they could
have an interesting conversation piece the next time they had someone over for dinner.
One bottle could go to Butuan City, so their cousin Jody could sprinkle some of the
Quezon City ashfall into one of their prawn ponds..
… “Why don‟t we make our own volcano?” asked the four-yea-old. Good idea, I said.
Pehaps right here by the stone lantern, a la Unzen. We can pile up enough of the sand to
shape into a cone, and stick in some Sparklers left over from Christmas.
„Let‟s do it! Lets‟ do it! Now!”
Memoirs of my Stomach by Clinton Palanca
Article No. 70
From his book, “The Mad Tea Party”
2001
The book contained portions of columns published in PDI
Topic:
Title and Lead:
Humanizes the stomach as a separate human being
The lead starts with the philosophical concept of happiness and the author relates it to
eating scallops as a form of extreme happiness.
“This is why when eating a perfect scallop with a spoonful of whipped celery-rave, I
ejaculate in delight. „Wow! This is really good!‟, or at least make „Mmmm…‟ noises
with my throat as I munch. It‟s also, I expect, why people having sex make grunting
noises and ejaculate in delight. „It feels so good!‟ as they, well, ejaculate in delight.”
Approach:
Humorous
Criticism of restaurants
Well described scenes, from people to places
Very specific, use of proper nouns to identify places
“…‟Are we having fun yet?‟ If you need to ask, you aren‟t. The only true pleasure is the
kind that descends slowly and imperceptibly, a sense of well-being that can be a
combination of many factors: a beautiful sunset, a long and exciting menu, the way the
breeze carries, intermittently, over to your side of the table, the scent of the woman sitting
opposite you as she pulls back her hair.”
Link of food and travelling.
Went deeper with the value of food when one travels.
The article is a set of smaller stories such as his favorite palace restaurants, why a
traveler should not visit McDonald‟s when in another country, and his food experiences
in different countries.
They each have their own leads and endings.
“And did we immerse ourselves in culture at the Centre Georges Pompidou, or stare at
skewed women at the Musée d‟Orsay? Did we go t Eiffel Tower, to the Louvre, to the
Arc de Triomphe or to the Invalides? Oh, we saw them, to be sure, in the distance, from
the window of a taxi or as we scurried down the entrance of a Métro station. But we had
no time to go and visit them; we were in a terrible hurry. We were on our way to eat.”
The author embedded the menu on his story, with exact wordings.
“I had the truffle soup: rich, dark, sensual, sinful, each mouthful an explosion of flavor….
The pigeon was beyond belief; an entire compendium of flavors had somehow penetrated
the flesh, which was tender and not the least bit cloying.”
In Hongkong:
“A few hours later I woke up and found the room transformed into a boudoir. Every
conceivable surface was occupied by eyelash curlers, blush poufs, hairbrushes, and
instruments that looked like they might be used for extracting frog‟s ovaries. The floor
was littered with strappy sandals, thongs, slides, and (to prove my masculinity by not
seeming too conversant with female apparel) those thingamajigs with the heel that goes
under the whatchamacallit.”
Foods as star of the night
point of View:
First person
Tone and Voice:
Inarguably a restaurateur
Structure:
Collage, diary, story within a story
Rhetorics:
Comparison and contrast, illustrations, analogy
Characters:
Through actions, eyes of author
The food – compared to women
Ending:
He always ended deeply, mentioning statements that have been pondered on.
Ending of “Food Travel”:
The best, and the only, way to appreciate and understand a city, is to sit, stroll, or simply
live, and allow the city to come to you, not through your mind but through your senses;
not by your action but by the city‟s own volition, alighting on you almost imperceptibly
as you sit perfectly still. And then you eat. If you have chosen wisely, and if it is a chef
who knows what he is doing, you will be doing nothing less than eating a distillation of
the city, its culture, its inhabitants: its very soul.”
Suffer, Little Children? By Tezza Parel
Article No. 71
National Midweek
1987
Topic:
American servicemen and young kids in Olongapo; prostitution
Title and Lead:
The lead was a description of her job as a hostess in a bar, dancing with an American
soldier. The details were there, the movements of characters.
Approach:
The age of the dancer was not revealed until the third paragraph.
Segue to the AIDS virus scare among young girls
Occasional rundown of figures and facts.
Good choice of quotes.
Amazing story bits.
Advocacy groups.
Point of View:
Third person, omniscient
Tone and Voice:
Sympathetic toward the subjects; advocacy piece
Structure:
Collage or mosaic
Rhetorics:
Illustration, narration
Characters:
Through eyes of others, action
Ending:
A prelude to the next part
APPENDIX D - CONTENT ANALYSIS NOTES FOR VIDEO
Little Bad Boy: Binatang Rizal sa Europa by Howie Severino
2005 Outstanding Televised Feature on Youth and Education – Lasallian Scholarum
Awards
Video Number 1
I-Witness: The GMA Documentaries, GMA-7
December 2004
Topic: Life of Rizal in Europe and an avid Rizal fan from Belgium
Title:
TV documentaries, in order to garner an audience, must produce a fairly good title. Good
titling is given to documentaries, it‟s only a matter of comparing it from other
documentaries. The use of “Little Bad Boy” shares a glimpse of what Rizal was like in
Europe, far from his image here in the Philippines.
Intro:
With the frames of “Inihahandog ng…,” the documentarist showed footages of his
puzzlement. Lost room of Rizal, with the Room no 38. Footages of Europe.
Then jump to a teaser to an interview with a Rizal descendant, saying he was a gambler
in Europe.
Then jump to a teaser with a Belgian Rizal advocate saying he had many girls.
Approach:
Started with facts about Eiffel Tower. Informative and facts-driven, minimal descriptions.
“Alam niyo bang isa mga unang taong nasilayan ang Eiffel ang ang Pilipinos si Jose
Rizal?”
The documentarist introduced the main character through a site in Paris.
Inserts himself occasionally in the narrative. “Tiyak manghang-mangha rin si Rizal sa
tanawing ito gaya ko. Kasing tayog kasi ng Eiffel Tower ang pangarap ni Rizal para sa
Pilipinas.”
Started out as a travel documentary, connected to Rizal.
Humanizing Rizal
Hotel na tinuluyan din ni Rizal ang tinuluyan nila. The documentarist really tried to live
up Rizal in France. Tracing his footsteps.
“Hindi rin natin lubos na kilala si Rizal. Kaya hinanap ko siya sa Europa kung saan hindi
siya bayani or diyos.” Amazing.
Angles: The young Rizal in Europe, Rizal in eyes of a Belgian, Rizal in the eyes of his
descendants
Use of Eiffel Tower as symbol.
Visit to the inns visited by Rizal
First-hand source: Rizal‟s letters
Love life of Rizal in France, Nelly Bousted and Rizal‟s rival, Antonio Luna. Anecdotes,
sparing game.
Bowl used in Rizal in the comfort room was shown
The audience came to know Rizal in small nuggets of information, mostly humorous.
Memorial plaque advocacy
The latter half of the documentary was shot in the Philippines. In Arayat where many
Rizalistas are.
“Maraming lugar na napuntahan si Rizal sa labas ng Pilipinas, pero ni minsan, di siya
napasyal sa Bundok Arayat sa Pampanga.”
The advocate meeting a Rizal relative, an old man, Francisco Lopez, living in the Paciano
ancestral house.
“Maraming nagsasabi na kung wala si Paciano, wala si Jose Rizal.”
This Francisco Lopez told funny anecdotes about Rizal – gambler, etc.
“Higit pa sa kwentuhang naganap sa bahay ni Paciano, sa pamamagitan ng kaniyang mga
apo, muli nilang naipamahagi ang ala-alang iniwan ni Rizal. Mga kwentong babaunin ni
JP, dag-dag sandata sa kaniyang patuloy na pagsasabuhay at pagpapaalala sa kagalingan
at katangian ng ating bayani.”
Jump to the last frames: Name of Rizal everything, pero illan ang tunay na nakakakilala
sa kanya.
Style:
Use of traditional French music, time lapses, camera tricks, similes, use of various music,
scenic spots, use of Rizal‟s letters, MOS interviews
Point of View:
First person, third person
Tone and Voice:
There were efforts from the documenarist to become a Rizal advocate himself. Thesis and
anti-thesis statements.
Structure:
Parallel, mosaic,
Rhetorics:
Interviews, personal visits, MOS, Photos
Ending:
Efforts of the Belgian advocate to the students in Philippine public schools.
Stand-upper: Para sa marami sa atin, si Rizal ay monument lang. Sa Europa, nakita
naming si Rizal na wala sa pedestal, dayong namangha at nangulila, binatang umibig at
nabigo, isang Pilipinong hindi pala naiiba sa atin.
Shots in Rizal Park, Philippine flag, etc.
Mga Yaman Sa Basura by Derick Cabrido
One of the 2012 New York Festivals nominees
Video Number 2
Front Row, GMA News TV
Topic: Urban mining
Title:
The title gives a positive light to urban mining or making a living from garbage
segregation.
Intro:
Like Howie Severino‟s documentary, the intro includes clips of children digging through
the walls of garbage. No narration, but pure quotes from the subjects.
The last frames of the intro were very cinematic. Shows the landscape of garbage and
panned to the sky.
Approach:
It‟s more of the subjects telling their own stories from their own speeches, minimal to no
narration from the documentarist.
“Ako si… tatay nila…” Introduction of the characters
Other than the speeches, the narrator is able to plug in ideas through title frames, showing
background and context such as the reason why the subjects resorted to the garbage job –
the NPAs and military conflict.
The differences of rural and urban life. NPA and military conflict worsens the problem,
and so they journeyed to Manila to work as an urban miner
Stories of hardships, natatabunan, natatamaan ng mga gulong, etc.
The narrator tried his best to veer away from the subjects and merely be an observer.
Next gap: Showing their “sleeping quarters” Zooms in to the personal life.
Interview with someone who was a former Smokey Mountain worker and now heads a
foundation that helps and supports children living in Smokey Mountain.
Added a human value because of the small children involved. The story is not on the
narrator but on the stories told by the subjects themselves.
“Mama, kalian ba tayo lilipat ng bahay? Yung wala tayo sa basura.”
It boils down to poverty.
Style:
Point of View:
Multi-point of view, from the subjects
Documentaries have allowed stories to have a multi-perspective point of view, which is
often difficult in print.
I like it how the story is connected to other aspects like personal life, politics, education,
health, etc. Two kinds of children in Smokey Mountain, those who can afford to study
and those who totally cannot.
Smokey Mountain as hell.
It‟s a circular story. The last parts bounced back like a boomerang to the authorities and
to the children, as well as to the parents.
Tone and Voice:
“Nagmamakaawa.”
Structure:
Explanation of a process, Parallel structure
Rhetorics:
Interviews, Footages
Ending:
The desire of the children to learn and to go to school.
“Masaya kami kasi makakapag-aral na uli kami.”
Lusong
Written by Aileen Rae Perez, Directed by Nash Anggahan
One of the 2012 New York Festivals nominees
Video Number 3
June 12, 2011
Reel Time, GMA News TV
Topic: Ang mga kabataan sa Isla Puting Bato, sa tubig nagbubuhay. Dito sila naghahanap
ng tahong na pang-agahan, o naninisid ng mga gamit na pwedeng iresiklo't pagkakitaan.
Sa kabila ng basura at dumi, ang tubig pa rin ang nagbibigay-buhay sa kanila.
Title:
Very literary. Fit for a full-length documentary.
Lusong is a title that suggests a journey to a completely different world.
Intro:
Showed the community of Isla Putting Bato, the movements of people. Very cinematic.
Approach:
Use of symbols – water and chicken cackling. Sound mixing.
Uses of sensory narrative – nalulunok ang maalat na tubig, di nandidiri sa basura
Sporadic story elements with the quotes and interviews. Non-linear
Poverty
A clip of a boy doodling something on a notebook.
Gap 2:
A concerned authority mentioning about health concerns
Supernatural – mermen who kidnaps and kills kids
Stories of camaraderie with neighbors who share food
Choosing work over play. “Trabaho. Hanapbuhay yan eh.” Children with a completely
different perspective. It‟s like telling a subcontext of children‟s rights.
Parents working hard to let their children enter school. Again, the story was linked to
education.
A dose of tearful drama. A child who gets exhausted of diving in. Parents take the
responsibility and the duty.
Children preparing for school. “Kahit umabot ka lang ng Grade 6…” Supportive parents,
combing their hair, helping them with the uniforms.
Teacher: “May mundo sa labas ng isla.”
Children can have good dreams. (Naglalakad habang shineshare ang mga pangarap.)
Angle:
Paninisid as something not a decent or safe job, but a job merely to escape paghihikahos.
Point of View:
Multi-perspective
Tone and Voice:
A hopeless job by people full of hope
Structure:
Explanation of a process, mosaic
Rhetorics:
Interviews, footages
Ending:
Ending with clips of the family looking at a distance
“Tubig ay Buhay” tarpaulin
Circular – once again ended with children running by the sea
Narrative Style Ending:
Ended with a parent saying “my son is my only treasure.”
APPENDIX E – TRANSRIPTION OF THE PERSONAL INTERVIEW WITH
PROF. LUIS TEODORO
Researchers (R): What are your experiences and editorial background in relation to
literary journalism?
Luis Teodoro (LT): I started in journalism by writing for a magazine and one of my
editors was Nick Joaquin. He was editor of Asia Philippines Leader, pre-Martial law.
What I was doing mostly was reviewing books every week, as well as writing long
magazine articles, no? And in addition to that, when I was in UP, I was an English major.
The English major program of that time divided the interest of the students in what they
called concentration. So my concentrations were creative writing and journalism. The
two can be put together. And in fact that‟s what was happening. I took courses in fiction
writing from NVM Gonzales, for example and courses in poetry from Jose Garcia Villa.
You‟re familiar with these names? Because at one point, Jose Garcia Villa was a lecturer
in UP. At the time when there were really huge names teaching in UP, in the Arts,
Sciences, Humanities.
Anyway, among the professors of journalism that I had were IP Soliongco. He was more
of a literary man. He was in journalism because he was writing columns, okay. So most
of my associates were literature people. Also, I taught fiction writing for a while because
I started writing. I started in the writing profession by writing fiction and short stories.
One of my first publications was a short story published by NVM Gonzales in an annual
collection that he called Philippine Writing. One of my first publications was a short
story.
But later, I went into journalism for a number of reasons. Among them because if you are
going to try to influence how people think, you‟re going to have to do journalism because
journalism includes the more popular form. In a short story, you reach a limited audience.
And a lot of the people who were my contemporaries agreed with that, for example, okay,
Petronila Daroy. He was a literature person as well and he ended up doing journalism.
Writing essays for magazines. Also there was Jose Maria Sison, he was doing journalism.
Although he was a literary person, a poet. Then you have Ninotchka Roska who was also
an English major, graduated in creative writing but also went into journalism. The reason
for this was because, at that time, that was the 19… before the Martial law period there
was great ferment in the Philippines, there were a lot of cultural and intellectual ferment
in the Philippines. And, it became clear to writers that you have to write in Filipino, or
you have to write for the magazines and newspapers. Many of us didn‟t write in Filipino,
but many of us wrote for magazines and newspapers. Jose Lacaba for example, literature
major in Ateneo, he never graduated and dropped out, but anyway, he wrote both in
Filipino and in English and so he went to the Free Press which was a very friendly setting
because you had, among the senior editors, Nick Joaquin, Greg Brillantes, then the
editors themselves, Teodoro Locsin, Sr. was himself a short story writer, no? So the
Philippines Free Press was very friendly to writers in general.
Anyway, Nick Joaquin was very supportive of writers. And so he took under his wing
English, as well as Filipino writers, and when there was a problem in the Free Press, he
brought some of us with us to Asia Philippines Leader. So we were there, Lacaba,
myself, Brillantes, Ninotchka Rosca, among others. So we all ended up there.
So, ah, Yap says that literary journalism died. To some extent, that is a correct
assessment because you don‟t have anybody like Nick Joaquin writing today or anybody
like uhm, Greg Brillantes, or anybody like Rosca. I didn‟t intervene in the findings of
Yap but I think Rosca is underestimated here, because she wrote a number of articles for
the magazine, particularly for Asia Philippines Leader, the Graphic Magazine, she has
published two novels in the United States. Anyway, she wrote a number of articles for
Graphic Magazine when she was managing editor, and she left Graphic to join Asia
Philippines Leader. In Asia Philippines Leader, she wrote using literary techniques and
wrote things such as what happened in Kawit when Aguinaldo declared Philippine
independence. From the title alone, you can see that there are literary. One of the reasons
why literary journalism flourished before the Martial law period was because there were
the magazines. Okay, you had the Free Press, Graphic, Asia Philippines Leader, you had
several other magazines, and so on. And what this means is, you could write lengthy
articles using literary techniques. Now with the demise of the magazines, what difference
in today, the magazines are practically dead, nobody reads the magazines anymore.
Graphic is trying to keep the tradition alive but I don‟t know if it‟s very successful. I
think in Graphic, there are still attempts to do some literary journalism. But, if you look
Inquirer. Inquirer magazine is fashion.
Before the 1972, the magazines were exploring practically every issue. In the Free Press,
the articles of Joaquin appeared. House in Zapote street, etc. What you have now are the
poor shadows of literary journalism. For example, the columns of people who are literary
writers who are, writers of short stories for example who are trying to do journalism. The
problem however is that, there is not enough journalism in what they write.
Kasi ganito, even in the case of Nick Joaquin na use to tell him this. Because we were
very close friends, he was my kumpadre eh. Anyway, I used to tell him they are wellwritten by there are problems with the facts. No? For example, he wrote something about
UP, he misspelled the names of people. That‟s not journalism, it should be accurate. The
literary part is okay, ang ganda ng pagkakasulat, beautifully… Joaquin is very good at
that. But then, the journalism part, that‟s where the problems lie. And you see the same
problems with the present practitioners who are, first of all, short story writers. And then
they‟re trying to write. And what do they end up writing, they end up writing… do they
end up writing about what crime means as Nick Joaquin tried to write? Or what popular
entertainment is like in the Philippines. In their case, what they write about is, “my car,”
“my collection of fountain pens,” I mean that‟s not, that can be interesting to some
people, but that‟s not something that‟s a concern of mainstream journalism.
Now the thing is, what is, what is what, being wasted, is the capacity of literary
journalism to really engage people. Now up to a point, up to maybe the 1990s, you had
such attempts particularly the magazine called the National Midweek. Look it up. Lacaba
was the either, because it was an attempt to recreate the Free Press, the pre-Martial law
period, and later on, I became editor of that thing. If you look at National Midweek, you
will see there some of the later writings of Lacaba, Brillantes, and somebody named
Tessa Parel. But she was a great literary journalist. She wasn‟t talking about her fountain
pens, no? What she was talking about, for example she would report on the US Bases in
the Philippines. One of her reports on the US Bases focused on the impact, on the
meaning of the presence of American soldiers to the women of Olongapo. Kaya makita
mo, idedescribe niya yung ano, how yung… GROs, hostesses, how they would shut
down their awareness of their surroundings whenever they were dancing along with the
soldiers. So, she would describe how they move. What happened is that, Tessa Parel, left
journalism. She was disgusted with journalism. But she was one of the post-Martial law
journalists who were writing in the tradition of literary journalism. Greg is too old.
R: What made literary journalism popular?
LT: What made it popular was, in the first place, there were really huge names, big
names doing it. Ahm, but you have to get it clear. You have to realize the people among
whom these writings were popular were those familiar with English, those who were
relatively well-educated. But the material basis of that popular is the existence of so
many magazines. Without the magazines, practice of literary journalism is very difficult.
You can‟t do that for the Inquirer. In the first place, the Inquirer does not recognize good
writing when it sees it. Akala nila ang writing panay borloloy. Anyway, never mind that.
But in any case, it requires a number of pages. Most of the articles done at the time were
very long articles in the manner of the The New Yorker. 3000-word to 4000-word
articles. Ganun din halos sa Asia Philippines Leader.
So yung physical basis is the magazine itself. And then, of course, how were writers
encouraged. The magazines were making money, maybe because it was a more literate
age. They paid journalists relatively well.
You have a material basis, for this flourishing of literary journalism. Second, you have a
cultural basis. There was a core of people who in the first place, came from literature and
not from journalism at that time. Because of this, they had an advantage. They were
better writers. The disadvantages, because they were not trained in journalism,
sometimes, they were inaccurate, sometimes they were biased. For example, DJ Yap
mentions Kerima Polotan whose articles are extremely biased. Which of course, could
have been, what, could have been remedied if they had taken courses in journalism, but
they hadn‟t. In the case of Nick Joaquin, he was all instinctive, he hasn‟t finished college,
but he could write. So yung processes involved in doing journalism, some of those he
didn‟t always meet the requirements of good journalism. But he almost always met the
requirements of good writing.
Now, ano bang function ng journalism na ganyan? The thing about literary journalism is
that, it has the power to make things convincing and real. Tom Wolfe for example, in the
US, writing about, or Norman, what, political conventions, the Republic conventions,
they would give it enough description for example and they would choose the details in
such a way you would feel you were there. This is literary journalism has a power that
ordinary journalism does not have.
R: Naka-apekto po ba yung pag-ce-censor ng newspapers sa pag-flourish ng literary
journalism?
LT: No, it has affected all journalism, when Martial law was declared. For example, Nick
Joaquin. Okay, after Ninotchka Roska (Ninotchka Roska and I used to live together).
Anyway, so after we were realeased from detention, Nick Joaquin comes to our house
and visits us and says, “I will never write again until those bastards in Malacanang are
out!”
Without censorship, without even thinking about censorship, Joaquin was thinking that
he was never writing during the Martial law period because that was his protest. Because
among others, Pete Lacaba was also arrested and tortured nearly to death. And Lacaba
was part of this group that was very close to Nick Joaquin. And in fact, Nick Joaquin
agreed to be the first National Arist, during the Martial law period yan. It was Imelda
Marcos who started it all. He was refusing the nomination but he was convinced to accept
the nomination because the wife of Lacaba, Mara Lanot, Ninotchka Rosca and myself
convinced Nick Joaquin to please accept the National Artist designation so you could get
Pete out of prison.
So anon a „to, beyond the literary journalism, but you can see the what the situation was
like. So Joaquin, after much convincing, nagagalit na siya, nagsisisigaw, and, we you
don‟t know Nick Joaquin pero very loud ang boses niya. Pag sumigaw yun sa Port Area,
dinig yun sa National Press Club. But finally, he said, for the sake of Pete, okay. So
pumayag siya, so kinausap niya si Mrs. Marcos. He said Mrs. Marcos, please have Pete
Lacaba released. Sabi ni Mrs. Marcos, wala naman akong kinalaman dyan. But anyway,
the torture stopped.
So yung mga ganon. One of the consequences of Martial law was that all journalism was
censored. Number 1, many journalists chose not the practice. For example, Ninotchka
Rosca and I couldn‟t practice in conscience, kasi sasabihin sayo ng editor. O, you cannot
do this, you cannot write this. What kind of journalism is that? So we ended up writing
for foreign publications. Tapos, in her own case, she ended up leaving the country
because she couldn‟t stand it anymore.
R: So literary journalism, in a sense, declined during the Martial law period?
LT:: It declined during the Martial law period. Bakit? Sino may sabi otherwise.
Sheila Coronel was underground during the Martial law period. She only joined the
mainstream press only after 1986. Sheila Coronel was actually practicing underground.
She wasn‟t a journalist, in the first place, she was a political scientist. But anyway, she
was writing for the underground papers.
Literary journalism may have flourished in the underground papers. So, yun na. Actually,
I take it back. You should look at… It probably flourished in the underground and
alternative publications.
R: You mentioned about literary having the power. So, why do you write, why did you
keep writing literary journalism then?
LT: Because it had the power, precisely. I think I did a number of articles for Nick
Joaquin as well as for the Graphic.
R: Were there societal pressures that made you become a literary journalist?
LT: No, those are not social pressures but from your own convictions. Because, in the
Philippines, if you want to reach others, you have to be in media that are able to reach
those people. Yun yung issue ng public intellectual. So writing, you should actually,
malalim na subject yan, you should Google what Chomsky says about the responsibility
of public intellectuals.
Sabi ni Nom Chomsky, intellectuals must be writers. Kasi, if you have something to say,
You have to reach the majority. So yun yung personal conviction ng mga tao at that time.
Our personal conviction was the country needed change, transformation. But you
couldn‟t do that merely through short story writing. My short stories for example, and
Rosca‟s and Pete Lacaba‟s, we‟re writing about settings, we‟re writing about the
Philippine situation. That‟s the crude way of putting it. But, writing short stories, fiction
is not enough because you are only able to reach to a few people.
Journalism is the mass instrument through which you can reach people. That was a matter
of personal conviction, not a matter of social pressure.
R: What was the atmosphere before literary journalism came into popularity?
LT: Well, the publications were the broadsheets, but you also had the magazines. Yun
yung what‟s missing now, in the Philippine journalism scene. They had big circulations.
For example the Philippines Free Press has the circulation of about 40,000 weekly, and
then it had a circulation of 90,000 every Christmas kasi makapal siya. At the same time,
the Free Press encouraged literature, meron siyang Free Press award for short stories.
Nick Joaquin was the judge. I won that award twice.
Anyway, so what you had was a bit more, ah, was a, although some of the current
problems had already been there in journalism, there was however a seriousness in
journalism practice that you don‟t see much of nowadays.
For example, the fact that you have magazines and that the magazines allowed long
pieces, meant that you could not only provice information but background, analysis and
interpretation in one story. And some of those articles, some of then looked like
sociological studies. The same thing can be said about other writers like Greg Brillantes.
R: Today, there are journalists like Patricia Evangelista, who have the touch of literary
journalism in their articles.
LT: Granted, oo
R: How do you think your style is different from them?
LT: I think overwriting yan eh. I think what passes of literary journalism today is
burdened by overwriting. By it, I mean, binibuild up ang atmosphere, atmosphere,
atmosphere, atmosphere, sige ng sige. Endless. Tapos yung ibang practitioners ng literary
journalism, yung kanilang prose masyadong ornate. Hindi yun ang characteristic ng
literary journalism. The characteristic of literary journalism is roughly the characteristic
of good poetry. The capacity to say, economy of words, which Rosca, Brillantes, Lacaba
and Joaquin were demonstrating at that time. Hindi yung katakot-takot na mga salita, you
dump adjective upon adjective. Pretentious language.
Ang tingin ko dun sa writing ni Patricia, she tends to overwrite. But of course, some of
her columns are convincing and powerful but she tends to overwrite. Probably because
she lacks the discipline of journalism. Be brief.
The documentaries of Pat Evangelista have literary characteristics. Storyline has the
characteristics because it focuses on the human aspect. Part of the factors that make
literary journalism is, you see events sometimes very important through the individuals. It
humanizes.
R: Would literary journalism still subsist in the future?
LT: I think some of it will continue. But we need to have practitioners who are better
trained in both lit and journ. One issue is the decreasing influence of the old media, and
the increasing influence of new media. People would make the shift. It would require a
different practice. Naturally, it will be different, but literary in the sense that it wil include
the characteristics of film as art, and not of words.
APPENDIX F – TRANSRIPTION OF THE PERSONAL INTERVIEW WITH MR.
ALFRED YUSON
Researchers (R): May thesis na po which discussed literary journalism but said it
stopped in the 1980s so we‟re gonna continue it.
KY: Why do you start in 1972? Martial Law?
R: Yes.
KY: Why is it the starting point? Well, I‟m just asking because literary journalism started
before that, with Nick Joaquin.
R: Our other interviewees said the height of literary journalism was actually in the
1960s.
KY: No, I would disagree. Hindi siya height. Kasi, in the 1960s, no one else was doing it
except Nick Joaquin. And if I may venture, after Nick, Pete Lacaba, but the rest of the
Free Press writers were not practicing literary journalism. Greg and Kerima, not so much.
Wilfredo Noriedo, literary writing all the time. Because he is a columnist in the Free
Press, you might say he is literary. So when he does reviews in films, he wrote it with
literary techniques. In the 1960s, journalism was mostly Free Press, hardly anything else.
Y: In the other thesis on literary journalism, the author said it actually died after the
1980s and one of our thesis statements is that, it did not but actually transformed to other
forms like TV, documentaries, films. So, the first question…
KY: Not too sure about that. I don‟t get exactly what you mean that it evolved in TV. TV
is completely different. It‟s still journalism when you talk of TV news and features. And
eventually, it did become literary in a way around this decade, or last.
One example is Storyline by Patricia Evangelista. Okay, but one, it certainly did not die.
There‟s always a continuity. In terms of form, in fact, it became more pronounced, in the
80s up, only because they started to call it by another name – creative nonfiction. I also
like to introduce the elements na, in Wester journalism, the first ones to be hailed were
literary journalists like Tom Wolfe, and Normal Mailer. Norman Mailer, some of his
journalism. The Rolling Stones, that would be in the 60s and 70s. Hunter Thompson, and
certain international gatherings where this was brought up. Well before Truman Capote
and Normal Mailer, big names, long before then, or at least a decade or two before them,
Nick Joaquin was already practicing literary journalism.
R: Actually one of our interviewees, Dr. Cristina Hidalgo, she said that Nick Joaquin
said he actually invented new journalism.
KY: Hindi naman invented. I don‟t think he‟s out there to mix chemicals. (laughs) It‟s
just the way he wrote. He‟s always a very good writer, he used certain elements of fiction
or creative writing, in the service of journalism
R: Ano po yung journalistic background niyo in relation to literary journalism?
KY: Hirap na matandaan eh. 60s, di pa ako nagsusulat ng journalism, coz I really started
as a creative writer. Of course, you fall under the spell and the influence of Nick, the
great Nick. It also helped that he became a friend and parang tatay so you always adore
him in his writings. Well, idolo ko lahat yan for the language, Joaquin, Nolledo, Greg
Brillantes for the preciseness of his prose. Pete was more of a contemporary in Ateneo
and so although mas nauna nga si Pete diyan sa literary journalism because he stated out
as a copywriter in the Free Press and he got assigned. He‟s a good writer. Of course, the
height of his products was the Days of Disquiet but that 70s na.
I think I started out with movie reviews for the Daily Express, which was one of the two
remaining newspapers (Martial Law). Bulletin lang tsaka Daily Express. And I think that
was how I wound up with being manunuri. So I think that was my first journalism
experience, hardly anything literary, except for style and language. The subjective
assessment of the movie. If at all, you really can‟t call it literary. Everybody uses irony,
paradox.
Nawala yung Free Press nang 1972 with Martial Law and then they started Asia
Philippines Leader. I think I barely wrote for Asia Philippines Leader. That was also very
brief, mga a year or two.
R: Kailan po kayo exactly nag-start ng literary journalism pieces?
KY: I would think mid-70s.
Yah, I started editing something called Ermita which was a kind of avant-garde
Bohemian monthly, basically arts and culture, happenings, music, poetry. But as far as
my own editorial work was concerned, I became the editor of Ermita and I recalled on the
second issue, that came out 1976, we were doing a lot of travels.
Yun pala. I find this generally true. Literary journalism is more often employed with
personal pieces on travel writing, that‟s even before you get to personal features. But I
recall one piece I wrote was on the second issue, February 1976. It was about Tikoy
Aguiluz in Mount Banahaw. That was written in a very magulo way, not your usual who,
what, when, where, etc.
My wife, Sylvia Mayuga, wrote a great piece on Sagada where she was also practicing
literary journalism. Kasi personal, it‟s I. Ako naman, Banahaw.
R: What are your motivations in writing those pieces?
It‟s not even a motivation. It‟s something you pick up from the air, you don‟t formally
know, lumalabas lang yan sa creativity mo. It comes with a reading into writing. You
reading stuff you like, Nick Joaquin or Hunter Thompson. You don‟t even say, pwede ko
palang gawin ito. Parang bida rin ako sa article. Nagiging metafictional, it can be carried
out and be ridiculous and faulty.
I think the problem that came about in the mid-80s and 90s. I recalled calling attention to
one workshop material where a young girl in UP was assigned to interview Nora Aunor.
The first two pages described only how she dressed up for it, suspense, what jeepney she
took, parang “Sino ka ba? Give us Nora Aunor.” Tama na yung I,I,I mo. It depends on
how you carry it. Unang-una, it depends on the power of your language. We don‟t mind
you giving Nora Aunor in the third page if you are so witty in the first two pages. If it
were Jessica Zafra writing it, we don‟t mind, even if she never got to Nora Aunor. Yun
ang power ng language. I pointed it as flaw in the new generation that was coming in.
Siguro nabadbaran sila ng New Journalism na anything goes, bida na ako. Puro I, I, I.
Medyo sumosobra, ganun.
Walang motivation eh. The general motivation was to write well and fresh, differently.
But you‟re part of the whatever. Again, it‟s not so much about copying. Siyempre you
imitate your idols and the people you read and start your own style. I think that‟s what
starts that kind of journalism, it is also called para-journalism.
R: Some literary journalists write those pieces, because they think it can influence
people.
KY: It depends on the subject matter, on which ideology you are writing about. If you‟re
writing about the RH Bill controversy, yes. But sometimes it only provides a very
objective analysis of the situation and write it in such a way that you‟re detached.
I admire Randy David. Walang “I” It‟s ideas versus ideas, nothing flowery. You might
say it is not literary. Kasi sometimes we have a misconception that to be literary
means to be florid. No. I daresay na si Randy reaches literary heights by the very clarity
of his language, even someone like Alex Magno. I admire the way he writes. Very clear.
His ideas rumble on. Pak. Pak. Pak. Debate within himself. That‟s how he can influence
you to a certain stand.
Diba yung attack ni Pat Evangelista, totally literary. Emo.
R: Is it one of your main goals to influence, or just to bring out the art in you?
KY: No. I‟ve always been an art for art‟s sake. Schoolist eh. Anti-kaliwa ako nung bata
ako. I never believed writing should serve any purpose. One. To express myself
creatively. If the readers liked it, that‟s a bonus. If it gets published, that‟s a bonus. But
I‟ll still continue writing even without readers. Of course you try to communicate with
the readers. And your first goal is really to impress. You share the same wavelength, you
are on the same page. You are really writing for the people to understand and appreciate
you. As you also appreciate them.
Now, if it‟s goes behind that, fine. But never yung I wanna influence. Yes, also. Hindi
naman never never. It depends on the issue. If there is an issue of utmost importance, yes,
I would pitch in my voice. But generally, I write to entertain myself and others.
R: What are some of the topics you wrote, aside from arts and culture?
KY: Sports. Lifestyle. I write about food.
R: Those, you do make them literary?
KY: Yes. I enjoy writing sports that are very literary. One thing leads to another. Nawala
yung Ermita agad eh. Can‟t recall. I was writing contributions. Travel writing. I wrote a
couple of travel books in the Philippines. 79. 1980. I don‟t know if you can call it
journalism but it was done very literarily. I remember that Jing Hidalgo liked very much
my piece on the Filipino jeepney. She praised it and said the prose was enchanting.
R: When was the height of your literary journalism career?
KY: I like my pace, I was given a regular column to write on anything. First, it was
Manila Chronicle. I think that was soon after EDSA, mga 87. Thelma San Juan was the
editor of the Lifestyle page. Parang nirevive ng mga Lopezes. I would write every
Sunday, anything. I wrote poety, parties, discos, cafes. I think that was a very, I was
really enjoying at that time. No restrictions eh. And from that point, Chronicle faded
away. Amado Doronilla. Anyway, I can‟t recall baka 90s na nung na-pirate si Thelma sa
Inquirer. SInama niya ako. For a while, a couple of years, I was writing more of Lifestyle
for Inquirer.
And enjoying it.
R: What do you think was the atmosphere before literary journalism, before Nick
Joaquin?
KY: I guess very formalist. Very straight. 5Ws and 1H. That‟s the basic journalism,
reportage. Philippines Herald. Wala pa yata kasi noon yung mga columnist. The only
columns were opinion, politics, and certainly, they did not practice literary journalism.
Manila Times was very well known, but it wasn‟t until Free Press gathered all those
wonderful writers. And they‟re all literary. Polotan, Joaquin, Lacaba.
Teddy Locsin Sr.‟s Free Press was more of debate, issues. Parang speech. The editorials
sounded like speech. It wasn‟t until Teddy Jr. rejuvenated the form of the editorial. That
guy I consider him as a genius in terms of language, no matter what you think of him as a
person, he‟s a terrific writer. Even if you don‟t agree with his views, magaling siyang
sumulat. The humor, the irony, the quotation.Very literary.
R: What do you think is the biggest contribution of literary journalism in the Philippines?
KY: It gave a breath of fresh air. If it did not develop into creative nonfiction, medyo
corny. All you read are reportage, straight news. Even when there‟s an investigative
journalism, it would also be straight. The investigative pieces by Marites Vitug use
literature. Magaling siya magsuspense. It‟s a matter of structure and arranging the events
chronologically. Hindi yung linear na linear yung kwento mo. Dito hindi eh, iniiba niya
yung structure. That‟s literary practice.
R: With young literary journalists like Pat Evangelista, how is your style different from
them?
KY: (laughs) Matanda na tayo. (laughs) She considers me as one of her mentors. We
discovered her in a speech competition. I know we had something.
She‟s a spanky girl so okay siya. We never told her what to put but her ideas said it.
There are some of her critical thinking that I had problems with. I think she fell under the
spell, not fell under the spell, but I think she became sensitive of the fact na nasa UP pa
siya nun. Yung kaliwa, ewan ko, baka may boyfriend siyang kaliwa. Pag nagsara ka ng
utak, or kampi ka kaagad dito sa ganito.
May mindset. I don‟t agree with that. Give everybody a chance.
R: They‟re saying that journalists should have many perspectives.
KY: It always helps even you are to insinuate yourself into the picture. Say that what you
believe in, give others the benefit of the doubt. Give some other ways of pulling down the
party, you can use humor, wit, hindi out and out na mali yan, eto ang tama. Kung ganun,
magtayo ka na lang ng simbahan. Let your readers think.
Dun yung galing ng writer. If you can have the arguments with a certain way of writing.
Patricia does very well though emo way yung kanya. But as an argumentator, loaded ang
dice eh.
R: Sa mga young literary journalists, what do you like and don‟t you like about them?
KY: Irreverence is always welcome. Hindi takot. Some wit. Yung literary strokes niya.
She considers herself very deficient because she can‟t write short story and poem, her
edge is essays. All her essays are nonfiction.
Thanks to Jing Hidalgo that she was developed through classes, contests, books. Creative
nonfiction is a subgenre.
What‟s good with the writing? Freshness. The way she turns a phrase. The way she can
go from, she can even write long sentences na di mawawala ang syntax. Although she
would admit that she tripped syntactically or grammar-wise pag masyadong mahaba.
That‟s deadline writing.
Yung sumosobra, ayaw ko. Yung nagpapaka-metafiction. Post-modernist. Diba pag
postmodernist parang calling attention to the way you are writing it. You are part of the
scene, bida ka. The reader is always aware you are in the middle of it.
The reader must be aware that Pete Lacaba is part of the story but he is not obtrusive.
Through him, kasali ka rin. Very vicarious. Pag tumakbo yung mga bata, kasama kang
tumatakbo and you feel the gas bomb attacks, gunshots, whips, etc. That‟s effective
metafiction, making yourself part of it. It depends on the skill. May iba, well-intention
pero hindi ganun ka-skillful, lumalabas, sobra ka. Siya yung bida, di si Nora Aunor.
You have to weigh it in. It really boils down to your language, skill, narrative
structure. I think it’s the narrative structure that journalists will owe to its literary
training.
You learn about structure. To me, whenever you write a narrative piece, whether it‟s pure
fiction or journalism, the structure is very important. From the time you decide where do
you begin and when you end. In media res. You do a little flashback and jump forward.
R: On literary journalism as a sugarcoat from censorship
KY: May mga gumawa nun. To avoid it. Actually it comes in the form of fables.
Nagiging symbolic. Penguin Island where animals stand for certain symbols of authority.
Bihira. Meron pero di ganun karami. Pete got away with his acrostics poem.
R: Were you more restrictive upon your writings?
KY: Tantyahan, how much you could get away with it. Arlene Babst and her colleagues
were trying to test the limits of Martial law.
Kasi there were good writers who were preempted during the Mrtial Law. Gatbonton,
Juan Tuvera, Kerima Polotan, They were in the side of Marcos but they were creative
writers.
R: I‟ve been reading your columns in Philippine Star. They‟re very informal and hippy.
Why didn‟t you choose hardcore topics like politics.
KY: They wouldn‟t allow me, even if I want to. And besides, there was a time, depending
on your venue, before Chronicle, my first column was in the Manila Times. Yun puro
politics yung column ko. Making patawa, Before than magazines, part of the mosquito
press.
Some lifestyle and then Chronicle, more of lifestyle na. So napunta na sa Arts and
Culture. I quit Inquirer because I edited a short-lived evening paper. Mostly travel.
Patawa. Sa Philippine Star, I started out as a literary reviewer kapag wala kang oras.
R: Was there a change in your writing style before and now because of speed reporting?
KY: Probably not consistent. Consistent only in irreverence, trying to make fun of
everything. Minsan, mixed.
R: When you write, do you envision young readers to read your columns?
KY: It does not occur to me. I write for myself. I know not everybody will get private
jokes. I only only one guy in Dumaguete and a guy in Davao would get it. Private codes.
R: What do you think are the effects of literary journalism then and today?
KY: The element of freshness and style. Not everything has to be written in one formalist
style. Kung di man formalist, casual nga, but still very linear. Presentation of arguments.
I will continue to evolve even from now. It would always be fresh. Sometimes it becomes
shock-jock journalism just to get the attention and hold the attention of the readers.
Any kind of art, literature in particular, has to compete in the many inputs. I tell that to
my classes in Ateneo. You have to keep finding things new. You‟re competing with the
Internet, with the NBA on TV, the DVDs, video games. Mahirap na kalaban yang mga
yan. So you have to keep developing a style where you grab your reader by the neck and
not let go. Kaya nga important yang in media res na technique which is used even before,
kahit sa television.
Hindi ka na pwede magkwento ngayon na Jack and Jill got up a hill and, etc. Use
flashbacks. It‟s not as simple as getting a pail of water. Dadagdagan pa yan. Importante
pa rin ang sense of structure, knowing how to begin, when to begin. This applies to
journalism as much as to literature.
We’re all storytellers. Each and every one of us. We tell many stories everyday.
When we talk to our maid, to our children. Now, you have to be effective. Parang
form follows function. You have to convince, you have to have a purpose.
I tried to put them in a situation where your dad gave you a top-down Porsche after
graduation. Eh nabangga sa Katipunan. How do you tell that story to your dad? It can‟t be
as simple as “Dad, nabangga ako.” There are many ways. “Dad, do you wanna see my A
+s in my card?” Good news muna then tell it. There are many ways of attacking and
telling the same story. “Dad, do you love me?”
So hindi na pwede yung Jack and Jill went up the hill.
R: Do you think literary journalism would continue to survive in the future?
KY: Not just survive but evolve.
R: In what form?
KY: In a way, funny, the way it’s evolving, sometimes, we get desperate, in a bit for
freshness, visual artists would be doing multimedia, installation. Employment of
various forms. You’re competing with so much. It’s always about finding new ways
of tackling old things.
I‟m not saying that the old ways are gonna die out. Good writing is good writing.
Depends on the story you have. The best way to do a story is through creative nonfiction,
as a movie. Like a script. “Shots rang out in the night…” In one scene, alam mo na kung
ano nangyari.
That‟s the way of presenting it dramatically. Of course, this should be after first reports.
After all that. Then you can be dramatic.
Importance of dialogues
APPENDIX G – TRANSRIPTION OF THE PERSONAL INTERVIEW WITH
MR. HOWIE SEVERINO
Howie Severino (HS): Ang ginagawa ko sa TV, it‟s more related to cinema than to
literature itself but it depends on your definition of terms, but it‟s your thesis.
Researchers (R): How did you start using the narrative elements in your works,
particularly in the documentaries?
HS: Narrative elements. Well, I‟ve always looked at my job as a journalist, as a
storyteller. I tell stories. They just happen to be nonfiction, but I grew up wanting to tell
stories for a living, even a vocation. I didn‟t sit down and say, “Now I‟m going to start
using narrative elements in my work.” It was never a conscious efforts to do so, for me,
it‟s part of storytelling.
You know I started out as a newspaper reporter. The way I write stories a newspaper
reporter is the same way I write stories as a documentarist. I don‟t overanalyze my style
and use this type of narrative element. I need to start doing this particular type of
narrative element. I don‟t work that way. I don‟t think that way. I just wanna tell
interesting stories to people who want to learn from experience. So, I don‟t plan a
particular style. I just try things and I try them, you know, and I try not to do things I find
unnatural so everything you see on TV is really me. It‟s not because I want to adopt a
certain style or appearance, you know. The reason why I often wear a hat is because I get
headaches under the hot sun. It‟s not because it‟s a style. But it becomes a style. But I
think it‟s more function that style, then the function becomes the style to other people.
And then because other people consider it a style, I start thinking it as my style. When I
wear a vest for example, it‟s because it‟s functional, it has a lot of pockets. I shoot, and
when you shoot, you have to carry little things, tapes, batteries, things to clean your
camera with, plastic bags, you know, other people would carry cellphones, wallets, IDs.
But it gives me option to…
So, even the fact that I like to shoot, it‟s a function because I wanted more video for my
documentary. More video than the cameraman would shoot, more angles, more footage, I
wanted to be able to shoot what I saw, rather than settle for what the cameraman sees. So,
the functional decision on my part became a style.
R: You have worked as a newspaper writer. Do you write conventional news-like or more
literary-like?
HS: I will never call myself literary. You have to read my stories back then and make
your judgment. Parang nagmamayabang ako, diba.
R: It seems to be a title.
HS: Not just that, I‟m suggesting I‟m a good writer. I just like to tell stories. I just don‟t
want to communicate facts, but I wanna situate fact in a story. Kasi, ang reporter,
gumagawa ng storya. Anong storya mo? May storya, ako, diba. Hindi naman niya
sinasabi, uy, may impormasyon ako. Nagsusulat ako ng impormasyon. Hindi, nagsusulat
ako ng istorya na naka-base sa impormasyon. Uhm, but even back in college, when I was
a campus journalist, I always felt I was writing stories. So, whether you would call that
literary or not, for me, it‟s up to the reader to decide whether it‟s literary or not. I would
never call myself that. Other people would have to make judgment.
R: Do you admire writers like Nick Joaquin, or Truman Capote?
HS: Yeah, you know, there‟s a place for them. I admire writers who are at the frontline of
the action, who would put their safety on the line to get the story. Not, I‟m just sitting in
the bedroom and just write. There‟s nothing wrong with that, but those are not the
journalists I admire. I admire the journalists who go out, search for stories. I‟m not saying
Nick Joaquin and Truman Capote did not, but, they did a lot of interviews.
The journalists I really admire are Sheila Coronel, Marites Vitug, Maria Ressa, Jessica
Soho. These are journalists spending a lot of time in their career gathering information,
write well-told stories, and they cover the military, they cover wars. Journalism is a big
commitment to them, it‟s not meant to be comfortable.
R: So, what are some of the topics your pieces focused on, in your documentaries
perhaps?
HS: Marami. Iba‟t iba. If you want, you could look at Manila Chronicle archives. I did
cannibalism story once, I covered conflicts, development stories, I did about travelling,
environmental stories, I did all kinds. There‟s a book, “The Power and the Glory,” by
Raul Rodrigo. There‟s a part there about me, if you wanna know what I did as a reporter,
there‟s something there.
R: How deep do you go through the story? Are you easily satisfied with just getting the
interviews on go deeper?
HS: I try to go as deep as I can. Part of the profession.
R: Because some writers write stories only based on little interviews and observations.
What can you say about that?
HS: Well, observation is important but it‟s not the only avenue for information. For me,
the interview is the heart of journalism. Observation is just part of it.
R: May mga naka-inspire ba sa inyo na mga senior reporters nung nag-sstart pa lang
kayo as a journalist?
HS: Yeah, sila Rod Reyes, Luis Beltran, sila Sheila Coronel, Malou Mangahas, Ed
Lingao. Jessica Soho. Order than us, June Bautista.
R: Did you write stories patterning your style after them, or you tried to create your
own?
HS: I try to create my own style. I‟m inspired by role models. I try to to write stories my
own way. But I‟ve read them, so you can‟t avoid not being influenced by the writers you
admire. I‟ve read In Cold Blood, Ernest Hemingway, Nick Joaquin, I think I was
influenced by all those.
R: In creating documentaries, is it your main goal to have the viewers watch it or just tell
the story?
HS: No, I want them to be watched. Who does not want an audience? If I didn‟t care
having an audience, I wouldn‟t last long on TV. That means I must care for others.
R: What makes your documentaries different from others?
HS: I don‟t know. I don‟t wanna compare myself. I have my own weaknesses.
R: Meron po bang isang instance na gumawa kayo ng isang documentary at may
hindrances na ipalabas yung due to its content?
HS: Ah hindi. Pero naparusahan na ako for what was aired. Wala namang naging
hindrance kasi wala namang prior restraint. We did a documentary on an unusual,
amusing tradition in Laguna where old ladies would dress up as clowns and wave phallic
symbols around the newslyweds, as they walk in the reception or outside the church.
We were suspended for that for three weeks.
Ang Lukayo: Hindi Ito Bastos
R: Why did you pursue the story?
HS: It‟s interesting, it has not been documented before.
R: And you didn‟t think it would be suspended?
HS: We knew it was edgy.
R: Other challenges you faced as a documentary maker?
HS: Not having enough money to do what you want in a production, stories that don‟t
work out, interviewees who don‟t show up. It‟s a very challenging job. Security concerns.
Weather concerns. Pre-conditioned concerns. Travelling issues. Exhaustion.
R: Do you choose your stories, what people demand, or you go with your own interest?
HS: It‟s a combination. But to me the main challenge of journalism is to make the
important interesting and relevant. Make people be interested in something they didn‟t
think they‟d be interested in. You chose that topic purely because it‟s significant, not
because they already want it, no. Part of the challenge of journalism is to discern what is
significant from what is not significant. That‟s also the heart of what we do.
R:What do you think are the effects of narrative journalism as differentiated from
conventional news stories?
HS: I guess more immersive experience. They‟re longer, you spend more time on the
subject, you get to know characters better. And, I think if you get to know locations,
communities better, if you spend more time with a story, it leaves an emotional imprint,
that has already been changed by the story.
R: Do you think they should get a dose of those kinds of stories every now and then?
HS: Oh absolutely. Otherwise, I won‟t be doing these stuff.
R: Sa tingin niyo po, magpapatuloy pa rin po ba yung pag-proproduce ng documenaties?
HS: Yes. The documentary genre has barely begun. It‟s growing all the time. When I first
started, very few. Now, when I ride a taxi, the drivers talk to me about the documentary
they had watched. That‟s a change. A lot of students are aspiring, not just to watch
documentaries, but to make documentaries. Before, the technology was not available.
R: Do you think the documentaries would somehow overlap the work of print?
HS: It‟s a different genre. I still love reading books, I wouldn‟t discount the power of
books. Books will be around forever. TV has a bigger audience, here in the country. But,
it‟s hard to compare, it‟s like apples and oranges. Nasayo yan kung anong preference mo.
It‟s a personal decision. I can‟t say whether one is more powerful than the other.
APPENDIX H – TRANSRIPTION OF THE PERSONAL INTERVIEW WITH DR.
CRISTINA PANTOJA-HIDALGO
Researchers (R): What are your experiences in relation to literary journalism? Have you
worked on a publication, published books, etc.?
Cristina Hidalgo (CH): Are you familiar with my works?
R: Some of your works.
CH: Then you know they‟re not strictly speaking, journalism. I didn‟t write them on
assignment. I was a journalism in campus. And, it was in the form of feature articles
which are a kind of literary journalism. I had a column in the Youth section in the Manila
Chronicle. A weekly column. When I graduated, I worked with Graphic Magazine,
writing more Feature articles. While I was in the Philippines.
R: Were those pieces narrative, I guess they were?
CH: Not really. They were a variety of things, interview stories, coverage of events that
always featurize, I didn‟t do hard news. In essence, what later came to be called New
Journalism would still fall under this.
R: And then when did you stop writing for the Graphic?
CH: I became a full time teacher after I got married so I no longer write regularly. Not for
the whole time.
R: When did you start writing creative nonfiction or literary journalism?
CH: I think you are differentiating, are you distinguishing creative nonfiction from
literary journalism? Actually, my books are travel pieces. I write travel essays, travel
narratives. Creative non-fiction. Travel memoirs.
R: What motivated you to write literary journalism pieces instead of hard news?
CH: Instead of hard news? I‟ve never been interested in hard news. When I left the
country because my husband… I turned to travel writing, because that‟s what I do. And
later, when we had come back, travel memoirs, looking back.
R: Do you think literary journalism pieces are more influential than hard news?
CH: I have no idea. I didn‟t read media studies. Uhm, for me, the high point of literary
journalism in the country was before Martial law when Free Press was staffed by Nick
Joaquin, Greg Brillantes, Pete Lacaba, Wilfredo Noriedo, Kerima Polotan, those writers
writing for the Free Press. Writing very high quality literary journalism pieces. A high
point in the history of media. Were they very influential? I don‟t know. Were they more
influential than daily newspapers? I don‟t know either. I‟m not qualified to say.
R: How about the effectsof your works to readers? Have you heard feedbacks?
CH: My own writings? Yes, I have known people text me and say they like writing,
interview me. But I don‟t know what effect that actually has. Beyond thinking people
enjoy what I write, for example, it leads them to copy, does it influences their own
writing, I don‟t know.
R: Do you write issue-based stories?
CH: No, I‟m not a political writer. I really do travel writing, that‟s why I‟m asking if
you‟re familiar with my work. When I wrote about Lebanon, I was forced to write about
the political situations. In that sense, politics enter into it. But I didn‟t focus on the issues
per se, like, what was the fighting about, analyzing how… It‟s not the main point of the
writing.
R: You were in the country during the 1960s. What are your insights on the penetration
of literary journalism in the Philippines?
CH: Well, Nick Joaquin claims he invented his type of writing. He was not patterning
himself after… Are you familiar with New Journalism? That‟s not the kind of writing he
was doing, he was more on his own style. And he said on literature vs. journalism, it‟s in
my book actually, he claimed he invented literary journalism and ante-dated these socalled New Journalists of America. I don‟t think it was an issue on why did it penetrate, I
think it developed indigenously among the Filipino magazine writers. Magazine writers
wrote that way, it was the type of writing they did because they wanted to. The Graphic
of the Martial law period, where Rosca was literary editor. And then the Asia Philippines
Leader. They continued to write in that way.
R: What do you think are the differences of the Philippine literary journalism style and
the American style?
CH: I‟m not an expert on the literary journalism of America. I‟m more interested in
seeing the kind of reading I enjoy, the type of creative nonfiction I enjoy is not based on
news. So for instance, the books I‟m reading now are by John McPhee, Edward
Hoagland. They are literary journalists in a sense, because their essays are very solidly
grounded on research, for example, McPhee has a book about California and how it
originated from the geology of it to modern California. Ian Frazier has written about
fishing, so it‟s grounded on solid research. It‟s reportage, but they‟re very literary. The
style is wonderful. They‟re able to make things which normally not interest me, like
fishing and the origins of California, but they‟re so well-written, the way I would enjoy a
novel. That‟s a kind of reading I would like to read. The writing of Nick Joaquin was like
that, that‟s the kind of literary journalism he produced.
R: Do you think there are still Filipino writers who practice that type of writing today?
CH: At his best, Krip Yuson, at his best, quite capable of writing those things.
Hmmmmm. Parang the magazine today do not, oh there‟s another one, who writes great,
Serge Lacuesta, Clinton Palanca, Luis Katigbak.
Unfortunately though, our print media does not encourage long pieces so they‟re forced
to write very short pieces and that‟s a disadvantage because the writers I was mentioning
write whole books about one subject lang. Personal experiences of Ian Frazier about
New York‟s waterfront. I can‟t think of a comparable pieces in the Philippines.
That is the kind of writing I do myself. I have a book about Korea, Burma, and my most
recent books, and Travels with Tanya is about my travels abroad which I have visited
more than once. I tried to do that kind of writing but it can only be done nga in book
form. But I have published some of my essays in the Diliman Review, Likhaan. I think
those are the places which can feature long narratives, in-depth and substantial.
The glossy magazines have limits to the length of the articles. That may be one of the
reasons why there are few writers like Nick Joaquin and Greg Brillantes today.
R: Considering the writings of Joaquin and the writers you mentioned, do you think their
pieces have a potential to shape awareness, social awareness?
CH: Actually, they do in a certain extent. Pre-Martial law pieces had a great influence not
just on readers, but writers, like myself. So we tried to, that was the benchmark that I live
up to.
I have to say that I was influenced by the writers I admire, Polotan, Guerrero-Nakpil,
Joaquin. If you look at what I write, you would find traces of these people‟s style. Now
these people I mentioned, the younger, they were my students so I can‟t compare them to
me. It‟s hard to compare myself to their writings.
Writing is much more, ah, flexible. However, I think the writers of blogs, those are kinda
different, very distinctive type of writing. But I don‟t know if you would consider
bloggers as literary journalists.
R: Do you think literary journalism would continue to subsist in the future?
CH: In the Philippines? Yes, I think so. Why? All good literature will continue and wellwritten pieces will survive. It might change in form, for example, it may become shorter,
it may focus on different things, at home in different media, you were saying,
documentaries. Pat Evangelista‟s works, for example, is literary journalism. Che-che
Lazaro was a pioneer of that format.
The best of it will survive, more different later on. But I think high standard of quality in
terms of writing.
R: Let‟s go to some of your works. I‟ve read “I Remember… Travel Essays,” and
“Korean Notebook.” From all your works, what did you like the most, the most
impactful?
CH: My favorite is a collection of short stories, “Tales of Rainy Nights.” For the creative
nonfiction, I would say the book in Burma maybe. I maybe wrong. It seems to me that‟s a
good book. I‟m not really a good judge of my book.
R: Some of your travel works are based on observations. Why do you write that way?
CH: I‟m not a travel guide book writer. That was not my aim. I pattern my travel writing
after, again, two Filipinos, Kerima Polotan, Nick Joaquin, among the writers who wrote
travel stories. I was also influenced by Lawrence Durrell, and D.H. Lawrence… All these
writers who were novelists who published books about their travels. I was patterning my
travel essays after them, they were not concern of guiding tourists. It‟s more about
describing the encounter with new people and new culture.
APPENDIX I - Email Interview with Philippines Graphic editor-in-chief Jose Pablo
Salud
Q: A rundown of the history of Graphic Magazine.
A: Four years after Liwayway magazine was launched in 1923 by the Roces Group,
Graphic magazine was born as an alternative reading material for the growing English
readers at the time. Novelist Agustin C. Fabian was one of its first editors.
After a few years, the Graphic was renamed Kislap-Graphic as a marketing experiment:
to mix articles written in English and Filipino to capture a wider audience, but it hit a
snag. Advertisers weren't willing to support a bilingual magazine. Thus Kislap and
Graphic became two separate publications.
Sometime 1950s to 1960s and way up to the 1970s, Graphic as a franchise was sold to the
Aranetas. It was renamed Weekly Graphic. At the onset of Martial Law in 1972, the
Weekly Graphic was closed down, its editors were all hauled to jail.
It was revived four years after People Power I, in 1990, under its current owner and
chairman emeritus, Antonio L. Cabangon Chua. National Artist for Literature Nick
Joaquin was the magazine's first editor-in-chief. It was also renamed Philippines
Graphic.
Q: The different approaches and editing styles of the Graphic's editors-in-chief
through time.
A: Editing styles varied from one editor to another, but the principle remains the same:
strict gate-keeping is of prime importance. The conditions are simple: all sources must be
accounted for with either documents or recorded interviews; statements checked and
rechecked for authenticity; and above all, all statements and commentaries checked to see
if they are in context. All articles must be in-depth and written in such a way that the
storytelling must be above par.
The culture in the Graphic newsroom is one of exacting journalism topped with
impeccable literary flavor. Most editors through the years were either veteran journalists
or luminaries in Philippine letters. Nearly 80% of editors were and are award-winners in
their field, established authors, and some even National Artists.
Q: Differences of articles then and now (technicality, scope, topic, style, etc.)
A: Different writers have different writing styles. But, again, the principle remains the
same: we tell the story not in the straightforward manner of journalists but as literary
storytellers to give readers a "feel" of the landscape. The limit of scope is context. It
should go no more than the limits of the truth. No attempt at sensationalism. As to
technicality, the Graphic editors and writers follow a distinct writing stylebook.
Q: Graphic has been a magazine that analyzes political issues in depth, as far as the
previous decades are concerned. Do you have exactly the same vision now, or
Graphic tries to reach to the audience by creating more lifestyle-oriented stories?
A: Our vision stands: to lend context and intelligent perspective on what is happening in
society. We're not out to praise or hit anyone. We're not part of the 'journalism' that
makes a killing by writing sensational pieces. This includes politics, socio-economic
issues and even lifestyle. Our demographics include students, decision-makers in
government, academe, and the literary community. We are a staunch supporter of
Philippine letters. No, we don't cater to what most readers want to read. Ours is a mission
and vision to inform as well as entertain.
Q: Challenges faced of the magazine in terms of interest, subscription midst online
journalism and the existence of other magazines.
A: We're the last mag standing. Philippines Free Press has closed shop. Lifestyle
publications like, perhaps, the local Esquire and online counterparts like Manila Review
or Rappler are have their own ways of doing things. However, Graphic already has a
reputation of going more in-depth and more in context than most. That's hard to beat.
As to challenges, the Graphic has been around for the last 85 years. Although we do
struggle with readership numbers, when compared to lifestyle and other publications, the
magazine has created a niche of its own. Our analysis pieces have been the foundation of
decision-makers, especially articles regarding the Sultanate of Sulu, cybercrime law, graft
and corruption, the Presidency and other news items.
Q: Editorial policies when it comes to writing articles
A: To be loose about it, the first rule of thumb is that all articles, fiction and poetry
should pass strict scrutiny. From the time of Agustin Fabian, to Nick Joaquin, to the
present crop of younger editors, we get writers and journalists who are established in
their field. They should be highly creative, readable, totally electric. As I have said, all
sources of information should be accounted for, all statements and commentaries checked
for authenticity. Above all rules, no writer, reporter or columnist should accept any bribe.
We write as conscience and context dictate, no more, no less.
Q: What do you think are the effects of literary journalism to people?
A: My idea of a piece written in literary-journalism form is the same as my idea of any
literary piece: it should not simply inform, it should give readers a thorough perspective
as regards what is happening. Simply said it should tell a story, and the best way to
include context in the piece is to write it the way a creative writer would.
The effects are:
1) It gives the reader a clearer, broader perspective on the issue;
2) It doesn't only inform, it "entertains" in the same way a fiction story would;
3) It gives readers a fresh sense of a news item, almost bringing them to where it actually
transpired;
4) Stories written in this way displays a seamless-ness not found in ordinary reportage
Q: How literarynarrative journalism is Graphic magazine now?
A: One of the problems encountered in news items written in literary form is that it tends
to sound academic sometimes, especially when the writer comes from the academe. This
was in the past. Today, we employ a simpler construction without sacrificing context,
readability.
Q: Do you think literary/narrative journalism will continue to subsist in the future?
In what form? Why?
A: I hope it does, because people's reading habits rarely change--in print or otherwise.