Manila Bulletin Newsroom

There we stood like little tykes, completely and utterly oblivious as we enter another realm that may seem to strike familiarity but still, quite new to us. Like intimidated kids, we tried to stick as closely as possible to our guide—our esteemed professor aka. the Technews editor of the Manila Bulletin.

Everybody was on the go in the editorial section of MB; we were cautious so as not to interfere with the work process of the editors. We were asked to observe inside the newsroom. I actually had no idea at the time how a broadsheet was created. All newspapers start with a dummy. The dummy comes from the advertising department, and then it goes to the editorial department for printing.

The editorial department has a variety of sections from business agenda, business, universities, to motoring, sports. The managing editor, Fil Sionil, is the one holding the reigns. She does not spend her time sitting behind the desk; she walks around and supervises the section editors… or everyone actually.  

The editors decide on which stories to include in a newspaper. Each editor is assigned to a particular page and then they edit it and save their file or “slugs” with a specific file name in the network computer, and then they send it to the layout artists. The managing editor also sends slugs and floaters to the layout artists.

Apparently, the layout department is said to be at the bottom of the ladder, but perhaps what Konstantin Stanislavsky once said, “there are no small parts, only small actors”, may be applicable to this situation in a media-profession sense. Most big shots start off at rock bottom and later on climb their way to a Mount Everest of fortune—one that is every greedy person’s dream.

So the layout department hands over the dummy to the proofreaders, which is delivered by the copy boy. After proofreading, it is returned to the layout artist once more to do a negative, which would only take about five minutes and then it’s off to the printers. At times, the chief photographer would discuss with a specific layout artist on which photo would be used for the front page. The layout artists also decide which sentences to cut out, if the exceeding sentences are few; should the exceeding sentences be many, the slug will be sent to the editor and s/he will be the one to revise.

Since the dawn of technology, the newsroom of today differs greatly from the times before. The technologies used in newsrooms today are television and internet radio for monitoring news. Wire stories are bought from Reuters, AFP (Agence France-Presse), AP (Associated Press), and etc. through the internet. High-technology printers are also of great use to the newsroom. Cameras like Nikon D7000 and Canon EOS 5D Mark II put cameras like Thornton Pickard single lens reflex camera and Sanderson hand/stand bellows camera to shame. Cellular phones are now also used to transmit news stories to editors. Phones that have internet like Blackberry or Android phones are what many journalists are currently using. Reporters also send their news stories through email (electronic mail) via internet.

Where have all the typesetters gone? Back then, newsrooms are usually a noisy place, we were expecting that when we were about to enter the editorial section. It was surprising that the room was quiet; the editors rarely spoke with each other because they exchange or send their slugs by saving them in their computer network. Technology was definitely an influential aid to the media. A news report on a press conference is done even before the actual press con is to finish. Nowadays, news travel faster than a bullet train does.