In 1987, we began our journey during a critical period of history. There was a struggle between the old and the new, and the sense of having a clean slate on which to start over. As a nation, and as a newspaper, we could be anything we wanted to be.
We never lacked for action over the next decades. We saw a lot of drama and disaster, change and conflict, both as a result of external forces and out of our people’s own doing. At various points, we vacillated between hope and despair, even as we persevered amid the drudgery of everyday coverage.
There were enough intangible rewards to keep us on the job.
We also saw our industry, dynamic as it had always been, define itself through the actions and omissions of its practitioners. We persisted with our ways but these same habits were also put into question. Many were tested – some failed and left, some struggled but remained.
Through it all, and through the various dilemmas, we held fast to the values of journalism that brought us here in the first place.
It has never been easy. Often we find ourselves comparing what is and what should be. The realities of our times force us to confront our own leaders, people, industry, and ourselves.
Every day is a struggle. And now the age of information has occasioned changes we never even imagined when we first saw print. Then, we were imbued with a certain sense of mission, yes, but also a sense of smugness that we were the gatekeepers, the more enlightened ones whose job it was to tell the public what was important, what was not, and how to think about issues.
Today we are humbled. We are neither invincible nor enlightened. It is possible to get high on our hubris, fall victim to very real economic circumstances, or get entangled in our own conflicts.
But as always, we show up for yet another day.
To be sure, we are not young. In human years, in newspaper years, 38 years is a long time. It is enough to have seen many things that have marred the clean slate we enjoyed when we first started.
But we are not too old, either. We have years and years before us, many more histories in the making – for isn’t that what journalism is? We will witness how technology will further evolve and change us all for good or bad. How our roles in the media will be challenged and shaped anew both by the winds of change and by the old ills that have hounded us for long.
Today we are at another critical juncture. Elections will be upon us in just a few months. This will happen with an acute awareness of what our people want and expect from their leaders – not to portray themselves as heroes or victims, but to get to work and address the gut issues of the prices of goods, food security, job security. The ability to provide for the needs of our loved ones and imagine a better quality of life for our families.
Thirty-eight years is a milestone, yes, but it is also just a marker. The path is long and rocky, and we will not hesitate to push ahead where our vocation takes us. Because first and foremost, even before we are journalists, we are Filipinos.
