SAY IT WITH CONVICTION!

SAY IT WITH CONVICTION!

by: CECILIO RONQUILLO

ABMCB4B

Every day we hear different news, stories, and controversies in connection with our present emerging society, what I mean is the issues and the irregularities in our Philippine Government. Through the years, we are very surprise by the news about the corruptions like the ZTE Scandal, over pricing of the automated ballots, as well as the irregularities in the voting system and many more.

As part of the duty of journalist, they should inform the public on the transactions made by the government, even if it is a bad one. Journalist serves as the watch dog of the government and should be accountable on the news that they deliver, but what if there are people who wants to control the news that you are disseminating? Are you still willing to serve the public in informing them the right news or just work because there is compensation and control the news to protect someone?

In Article III Section 7 of the Bill of Rights states that The right of the people to information on matters of public concerns shall be recognized. Access to official records and to documents, and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions , as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development , shall be affordable the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by the law. In return the journalist should provide truthful information to public despite the fact that the journalist is in the midst of controversies as

well as his/her station, they must stand on what they say, because it is their duty and they responsible on the news that you disseminate to public, say it with CONVICTION!. A journalist doesn't choose for his/ her news, they should deliver it with all his heart regardless on the people who control the news. If you think that writing news stories is your passion then we can just only now consider this as your profession, if not, you are just only follower of others mind and you are not a journalist. As what Ms. Maria Ressa of ABS-CBN say “Stand up and do jobs well and the Filipinos will benefit because we will help build a better nation with more transparent processes”.