Journo Journey

A Gradual Process Published: October 27, 2023 Generic Wall Clock. Taken on March 9, 2023. (Courtesy: Mervin Manaois) After finding several relevant documents, datasets, and people sources, our group and I decided to look for the contacts of the individuals involved in the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Diliman project. We assigned each other an authority to profile by searching the Internet for pertinent information about them. Such knowledge we discovered through official websites includes their brief educational background, past positions in their respective departments, assignments, affiliations, and controversies. When we accomplished our profiling, we moved on by inserting documents, datasets, and people we may require to analyze, evaluate, or interview to prove or disprove our hypothesis throughout the investigative process. I found profiling officials as something that can lead to questions, leads, or breakthroughs. One may tend to assume that the individual you are looking i...

Scouring Sources Published: October 20, 2023 The Department of Public Works and Highways' tarpaulin details its construction of the PGH Diliman Resettlement. Taken on October 5, 2023. (Courtesy: Mervin Manaois) Finding one source is essential in the formation of a meaningful investigative report. However, one must remember that a single piece of information obtained through physical or digital means would not suffice, supplement, or support any arguments one may produce. Throughout my journey in my course so far in journalism, I have realized that one must strive to gather information or knowledge from varying sources to reinforce and complement a report. Moreover, it is substantial to cross-check and fact-check primary and secondary sources of information to ensure that the investigative process has no inaccuracies. Furthermore, I realized that not all things are easy. Acquiring relevant knowledge requires time and careful consideration of the source’s credibility. Our progress ...

  Rainy Revelations Published: October 6, 2023 Myrna Replada (left), Block Two Ledaer, telling their story to Paulo(middle) and Glecelyn (right) (Courtesy: Mervin Manaois) Paulo, Glecelyn and I went off to UP Diliman’s Pook Arboretum – one of (if not) the last urban forests in Quezon City – and interviewed two local leaders from Block One and Two as the starting point of our investigative report. On September 5, 2023, it was the day I realized, similar to my past documentary class, that investigative journalism is an intricate process. I feared as we gathered at Plaridel Hall, we would not collect any valuable data during our trip. Also, I doubted early if our initial topic and efforts about Pook Arboretum would be futile. Inclement weather welcomed us upon leaving Plaridel Hall to Pook Arboretum. “Ang lupaing ito ay ipinagmamay-ari ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas,” are the texts written on several signs near Pook Arboretum, indicating that we were on track. We then spent time walkin...

  Hypothetically... Published: September 29, 2023 The Thinker (Courtesy: David Santaolalla, Wikimedia Commons ) Hunter’s second chapter showed me the importance of making hypotheses. Hypotheses are the foundation of a project on whether one can continue pursuing it or not through analyzing countless relevant truths. It narrows one to a particular set of goals to prevent them from an overwhelming sea of questions about “what to do next.” Creating a hypothesis gives one something to work on, verify, uncover secrets, and tell a story. First and foremost, I always saw hypotheses as just mere sentences to base on. In part, it is true, but reading into chapter two of Hunter’s manual made me realize that we must be realistic in setting propositions. It was a problem of mine when we did our research in Senior High School – a qualitative study on peer pressure. We thought of a hypothesis without breaking it down into specifics or feasibility; fortunately, we succeeded. Looking at it now was...

A New Beginning Published: September 22, 2023 In the Rain (by yours truly: Mervin Manaois) Unfortunately, I lost my passion for journalism, as everything I now do hereon has been for compliance. Nevertheless, I found investigative journalism serves one of my interests, the primary being news reporting. Throughout the first two weeks of attending J 105, what stuck out to me was the shared quote about documents and data being the bricks and interviews as the mortar to hold the objects. Investigative journalism is indeed a time-intensive process – but so long as one is passionate or fascinated by a particular topic – the drive to produce quality output beyond news is immense. First and foremost, it is true that among the countless factual and false information in the media, one may find a piece of news whose details one can deepen. For instance, I remember my past professor who told a story about a regular report from GMA about crime in an area. She added that Jessica Soho noticed many ...