By Yra S. Suarin
For many aspiring journalists, their journalism journey begins in competitions and seminars, often as early as their elementary school. During school’s press conferences, young journalists are exposed to timers, fact sheets, and scoreboards. The winners bring home medals and certificates, while losers go home empty-handed, with a dream to strive harder next school year.
This is competition journalism—contestants have one goal in mind: produce the best output—may it be an article, a photo, a caption, a script, or a broadcast. The journalists need to impress the judges through their unique writing styles, best photo angles, and distinctive voices. They work within strict time limits, predetermined criteria, and a controlled environment where every decision can affect their final ranking.
Yet, as valuable as it is, competition journalism is not journalism.
In competitions, journalists write for judges. In real life, journalists do not write for the rich nor the poor, but for the truth.
Actual journalism is far less predictable. Media reporters and researchers cannot predict when things will happen or when an issue comes out. Actual journalists do not have their fact sheets handed out to them. They have to interview government officials, people affected, eyewitnesses, or experts to gather information for an article. It takes time to cross-check facts, verify claims, and piece together different perspectives to prevent any biases.
Furthermore, the truth is often inconvenient. It requires asking difficult questions, challenging assumptions, and reporting facts that some people would rather keep hidden. Unlike competitions, where the goal is to earn a higher score than others, journalism is not supposed to be a contest. The story is not about the reporter. It is about the public’s right to know.
Unfortunately, journalists are trapped in the mindset that a journalist’s excellence is measured in the number of awards or the level of competition that one has competed in. However, journalism is not about winning, but serving the community. A medal may prove that someone can write well under pressure, but it does not automatically prove that they can uphold journalistic ethics, build reliable sources, or tell stories that genuinely matter.
This is not to degrade the value of competitions. They have inspired a lot of the young generation to start writing and reporting. The problem only arises when we mistake the training ground for the destination. A campus journalist’s journey does not end when the competitions do. Rather, it continues every time they choose to write for their communities and the masses. Journalism is an actual work of people in the media, and it goes beyond headlines since it is about informing the public and giving voice to stories that matter.
After all, a journalist’s highest achievement is not a trophy but public trust. Unlike trophies that gather dust over time, public trust must be earned continuously through accuracy, fairness, and integrity.
