Principles Of Neutrality

To this day, people would ask why I didn't join any news publication in the university, when I took up Journalism as my major in the College of Arts and Letters. The answer lies in my poor news gathering skills, and because it was never my intention to take up a writing course, believing I was better off probing the depths of the human mind in the realms of Behavioral Science. 

It was for business reasons I was pressed to become a modern-day scribbler - an apprentice groomed to take over a publishing empire created by my father. I'd still recall that fateful afternoon I made the decision, and the blissful two years conjuring words I thought I'd use only for poetic expressions. Wherever Estrelita Cruz is, this lifelong pursuit to master the prose came from her nonchalant blessing.

Much is owed to her.

Now you ask why, despite getting into the program, I still didn't join the school paper. I already mentioned my undeveloped writing skills; also the prissiness of the literati somehow turned me off. More importantly, I recognize the unspoken creed which all Journalists are supposed to be bound to, and to belong to a news organization when I was identified with a student political body besmirches the values we hold dear. The perception of neutrality, no matter how the subterfuges resurface from time to time must be preserved. It is for this reason I always give up my post during the Student Council election campaign period, and the refusal to discuss matters concerning AB politics to my classmates. In our little ways, we were able to put some credibility into our batch, which our esteemed professors, who eventually taught media ethics before we all left the St. Raymund's Building should be proud of.

In light of the obvious media bias against the sitting President, which is paid for by some shady interests to fan the flames of the ongoing Twitter #hashtag wars, I can't help but ask, where did our values go?