That kind of headline you’d probably think of as a “tatay joke,” but here’s the thing: it actually happened here. In Laguna province.
In the nearly six years that we’ve been running OpinYon Laguna, we’d come to appreciate the real situation of print journalism in the province.
It’s no secret that some weekly publications in Laguna have gained an unsavory reputation as “fly-by-night” newspapers that aren’t even seen on the streets and are only there for the lucrative business of publishing legal notices, or worse, as propaganda mouthpieces of traditional politicians, especially during election time.
But we were not prepared for the story one source shared to us, as told to one of our reporters.
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Ayon sa source namin, may nagpalagay umano ng legal advertisement sa isang nagpakilalang abogado na konektado umano sa isang local newspaper dito sa lalawigan.
Dahil sa galing ng pagsasalita at pangungumbinsi ng nagpakilalang abogado, nahikayat umano ang kliyente na magpalagay ng legal ad sa naturang pahayagan (na hindi na natin papangalanan).
Ngunit pagkatapos umano ng tatlong linggo (isa sa mga karaniwang kahingian sa mga nagpapalagay ng legal ads sa mga pahayagan ay ang mailathala ito nang dalawa o tatlong linggo), hindi umano maibigay ng pahayagan ang mga kopya ng mga isyu na kung saan dapat ay nailathala ang mga legal ad.
And when the client asked why, the newspaper allegedly gave what, to me, is the lamest excuse ever: “Naubusan raw po sila ng papel kaya hindi po sila nakapag-publish.”
Imagine that! A newspaper running out of paper?! In my more than ten years of being in the media industry, I’ve never ever heard of a newspaper deciding not to print copies just because it ran out of paper.
I’ll share with you a trade secret: it’s actually a requirement for a newspaper to have printed copies, for submission to the National Library as well as proof to the various regional trial courts where they get most of their legal ads for.
We don’t know if this particular newspaper is one of those we’ve heard that publishes up to ten or so copies alone to satisfy the legal requirements, but come on!
Long story short, napilitan raw ang kliyente na magpa-publish ulit sa isa pang dyaryo na may mas magandang reputasyon dito sa probinsya.
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In the six years that OpinYon Laguna has been in existence, we have strived to uphold the highest standards not only of journalism (as we take our parent company’s original formula of “we take a stand” into the local journalism scene) but of professionalism as well.
That there are still so-called “newspapers” serving only to fill people’s pockets instead of people’s mindsets, to me, is a matter of disappointment, as I believe such “publications” betray the very reason we are here: to inform and educate the masses.
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #AJamesVelosoColumn #UnCommonSense #Dyaryonaubusanngpapel