Christa Angelick V.

Malinao BAC 2A

COM 205: Journalism Reflection Paper

February 12, 2023/ Sunday

Journalism is not just about writing; it is also about how good and efficient we are at
gathering, recording, verifying, and reporting information. As we've tackled the types of
journalism, from traditional to citizen journalism up to digital journalism, we've seen different
changes and things come together to form a new whole.

Furthermore, traditional journalism includes the mediums of television, radio,

newspapers, magazines, and their online offshoots. Journalists here are meant to be society's
watchdogs, disseminating information in an objective and unbiased manner. On the other hand,
citizen journalism uses platforms such as blogs, podcasts, social media, and YouTube.
Technology here really has opened many doors, even for those who don't go through any
professional training but write stories on new media issues. There is a lack of training and
orientation in this citizen journalism about media ethics, standards, and legal obligations. Simply
said, citizen journalism enables society to report on and voice its problems. With the rapid pace
of digital journals, what is printed quickly becomes outdated as the world advances. This is in
contrast to the last category of journalism, known as digital journalism, which covers anything
that uses the web, including social media, news sites, and other types of apps.

Now, how do these types of journalism introduce trends and convergence in the
journalism industry in the Philippines? We all know that now all the platforms are combined in
our industry: journalism. We have gone through an evolution of media platforms, and for that,
we have to update these platforms all the time. In some way, convergence encourages audience
engagement by making the media more interactive. For some way, this encourages audience
participation in the media and makes it more interactive. I can claim that there are more
beneficial effects in this generation than bad ones. Just like time goes on and more journalism-
related challenges are encountered, we gradually learn how to combine various media in order to
tell stories more effectively. News consumers read articles online, navigate slideshows, click on
video links, and then listen to related audio rather than merely reading them in newspapers
(which most people no longer do). Since viewers in the Philippines want to watch their favorite
episodes whenever they want, practically all of them are made available online and on regular
television. Because of this, a lot of individuals, particularly younger ones, desire to produce,
reply to, and engage with media.

Furthermore, in the beginning, the media were the gatekeepers of information, and social
media sounded like a good thing until it was weaponized to serve a certain agenda. And because
of those changes, some journalists live in fear, but as professional journalists, they are trying to
transcend fear every day for us to be informed. It is morally and psychologically difficult and
demanding for individual journalists in the Philippines because the media and the government
never seem to get along, regardless of which president is in power. Whatever the future of
journalism holds in terms of trends and convergences, I don't believe Philippine media will be
prepared unless our institution is so powerful that it feels protected by the democratic space. The
press will always feel threatened as long as it believes that its survival depends on who occupies
Malacañang. Journalists should be, frankly, fearless in doing their jobs and yet be able to self-
reflect that they're doing it properly with the right intention.