Journos break barriers on business reporting in two-day webinar
By Annie Asistio and Lee Seril
Business journalists highlighted the importance of business news on ordinary people, especially in the middle of a raging pandemic, in a webinar on Friday, Sept. 17, and Saturday, Sept. 18.
Lourdes Fernandez, BusinessMirror’s editor-in-chief, stressed that the long-running pressing issues covered in the last 18 months of the pandemic “have been best told as business stories.”
“Business journalism is now the most compelling tool for storytelling, when getting the facts right and complete becomes complicated despite quick and easy access from technology,” Fernandez said.
For Fernandez, stories such as the pandemic’s effect on various sectors and industries, the government’s health crisis response, and the legislative hearings on pharmaceutical company Pharmally and the Bayanihan laws proved the genre’s relevance.
“I would like to think good business journalism will always go beyond the numbers and allow people a chance to reach out to each other,” she added.
Gerard dela Peña, TV5’s business correspondent, admits that even media practitioners are often intimidated by business and economic issues as they deal with numbers, corporate stories, management of public funds, and its effect on consumers.
“Maybe it’s not as sexy as covering politics, or as fun as covering lifestyle, but believe me, business journalism can be fun — if you give it a chance,” he said.
For Reuters correspondent Neil Jerome Morales, business journalism does not only focus on “alien-sounding” words including numbers, stocks, bonds, and financial statements, but also money in general.
“Capital markets deal with money, and money is life essentially,” Morales pointed out. “It’s about life [and] people, and money, particularly, is the lifeblood of the economy.”
Importance of agriculture in journalism and public interest
Jasper Arcalas, BusinessMirror’s agribusiness reporter, discussed the importance of covering agriculture in the field of journalism and in the public interest.
He said agriculture is a rich source of writing material where it can affect decisions of the public, especially when buying daily-commodity items.
“Not all news are newsworthy but in economics, pumapatok ang pagtaas ng bilihin,” he added.
Arcalas also explained that agricultural journalism promotes public awareness in the struggles faced by farmers and livestock business owners. These personal struggles can become great sources to stories about policies, trade, “laway” or consumer preferences, and more.
“May kuwento tayong mapupulot kanino, ano’t saan man, maski sa butil ng palay o isang stick ng helmet [chicken head],” he said.
The two-day business journalism webinar entitled, “Beyond the Numbers,” was organized by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines, the UST Journalism Program, and the Aboitiz Group.
