Madrigalejo: Week #4 at Manila Times

A. List down all the tasks that you performed during this period. Describe each in detail.

1.) During the beginning of the week, the reporter who covered the Department of Tourism was sick so he could not monitor the latest updates on the said government agency. Since only Rianne and I were the trainees present during that time, and I think Rianne is also working on another story, so I was tasked to get the information for the mean time. Sir Klink tasked me to coordinate with Ms. Likha (she is one of the senior reporters in the business department) because he wants to know how the swine flu pandemic has affected the business scene, particularly the Philippine tourism.

Immediately after securing the complete instructions from Sir Klink and Ms. Likha, I grabbed the phone directory and called the Department of Tourism. I talked to an employee and she told me that the officer-in-charge is currently on a meeting and that I could just call her back at 4:00pm. I called again and I was able to talk to the OIC, and she said that they still do not have the specific figures regarding the number of arriving tourists since the breakout of the AH1N1 virus. According to her, their last records wee still of December 2008. I told this update to Ms. Likha and she said that I could just contact NAIA and inquire about their precautionary measures. She said that I am to write a paragraph or two about it. This would be used as a support for another story.

So I looked up the number of the NAIA in the internet, and eventually go to talk to the Chief of Airport Security, Capt. Tom Cruz. He discussed how they are working hand in hand with the Department of Health and what equipments (such as the thermal scanner and the foot bath) have been put up at the airport to ensure that the no arriving passengers infected with swine flu could get in the country and spread the virus. After getting all the information that I needed, I began writing the story and sent it to Ms. Likha’s email.

2.) About 2 days ago, I have already submitted my article about the flu protection gears—masks and gloves. Since it has not yet come out, I decided to approach Sir Klink (when he was not busy) and asked if he received the article. He told me that he did, then I asked if there was anything more lacking in the story that I wrote and if I could do something about it, that is, if it isn’t too late yet. He said he felt that the lead was not that catchy, and that I could work on it at the moment. Since he was not busy, he explained further how he wants the story to come out and how I can improve my writing. He told me to work on it immediately so I did. I typed the story again, adding few more details that Sir Klink wants to see. When I submitted it, Sir Klink told me that a story from the wires just came in and that he was thinking of using it instead. Personally, it was just ok with me because when I read the story from AFP, it was really more in depth and the supporting claims from the World Health Organization would provide all the information that the readers need to know.

3. Since Rianne is already done with her 150-hour internship, the proof reading section usually has no interns to help them up in case the other proof readers are on day off. It was only during this week that I was given a chance to try and proofread some stories. The lifestyle section and the sports section were the ones assigned to me. It was a good feeling, in a way, to get to read the stories written by others before they actually get published.

I have read the style book of the Manila Times during the course of our training so I was a bit familiar with how the writers must write, the grammar rules they follow, among others. I only had a little difficulty because I am not quite familiar with the signs used when correcting something in a story. I really have not memorized everything yet but I do remember asking Rianne about the basics when she was still around.

4. Most of the time during my last week, I just stayed in the office so I took the opportunity to follow up my story about the Dynamic Teen Company. I talked to Ma’am Chit and Sir Rome. I asked them if they have already received my story and if they have already read it. They both told me that due to the countless number of articles that they receive everyday, they do not have track of everything and they haven’t seem to see my story.

They asked me to send the story again, so I did, for the 5th time already. I asked them after I sent the copies of the story out, hoping that they would get to read it this time. Thankfully, Ma’am Chit was not busy so she spent time reading it. Next thing I know, it was lined up for the Filipino Champions’ page.

B. Describe new skills you learned, or skills you improved upon as a result of these tasks. Be specific.
*Be assertive, but don’t be irritating. You wouldn’t get what you want just by waiting. It is necessary that you do steps to achieve your goal. Just like what a famous writer once said, dreams not accompanied by action plans are mere ideas that would never com to life. If I just assumed that they have read my story and that they will soon publish it, I would probably just leave my story somewhere in the trash bins of their email accounts. But because I wanted it to come out, I asserted for it (nicely) thereby allowing my story to see the light of the day. Before asking for anything though, as a standard operating procedure, ask the person concerned first if he or she is not busy before stating your business. Insisting your concern to a very busy person who is cramming to meet the deadline is just, well, downright irritating.

*Mistakes are normal. Just like in writing a story, even the senior reporters sometimes commit grammatical errors but that does not make them any less of a good writer. It is but human to commit errors and what matters is how you respond to it by doing the necessary corrections and aiming not to commit the same mistake again.

*Patience is a skill. It does pay to wait, and learning it does not really take much but it pays much. 

C. Other thoughts regarding the OJT experience.
On my last visit to the office, I sat down and waited for Miss Weng to arrive. While I was waiting, I grabbed a copy of the Manila Times for that day (May 10, 2009) and found out that my DTC story has already come out. It was such a happy moment. My last day couldn’t get any better. =)