The Newsroom Experience

There comes a time in our lives when the excitement of seeing new things once in a while is such a delightful thing to do. That time came when I started in college, everything was new! I can remember when I was a freshman and everyday I would ride the transit going to Manila and the city's beauty was just right in front of me in a rush.

Now in my final year as a college student, things get old if you've been seeing the same city for almost 4 years, but not for me because Manila has so much history in it. Old establishments and facades are such an eye-candy for me especially in the walled city of Intramuros and in it is the Manila Bulletin.

Manila Bulletin or formally known as the Bulletin, Bulletin Today and Manila Daily Bulletin, is the second oldest newspaper in the Philippines only almost two years behind "The Manila Times". Manila Bulletin's current Editor-In-Chief is Mr. Crispulo Icban Jr. 

Lucky for me, as a Journalism student of the oldest college in the country, our professors are practitioners and benefits of having professors like these are free tours and first person experiences being passed on to me not just theoretical teaching but hands-on.

Last week we toured the Bulletin's newsroom in the afternoon, first was our professor's office where one can see some of the most advanced technologies in the world, including mobile phones that are not yet released in the country.

The "Bladeless" Electric Fan, using jet technology.

As of today this hasn't been released to the Philippine market, the Panasonic vid cam that you can create 3D FULL HD videos. AWESOME.

Moving on we went to the main newsroom of the broadsheet to see what goes around the backstage of the newspaper the citizens would see the next day. 

Once you entered the door, a different atmosphere grabs you and usually during the morning and early afternoon (based from my OJT experience and what I saw in the newsroom) the people around are easy going and laid back, just plain gathering news, people are smiling and there is infinite food at their tables.

When the print newsroom rush hour starts (most likely 3:30pm onwards) everybody is on their work descriptions, the phone rings endlessly and runners are going from one room to another. The printers are shaking and editors are wired with their articles and their reporters' stories.

One side of the big newsroom, I had to use my mobile phone camera because I was shy to take photos.

One person keeping the room organized and who makes sure that the work is synchronized is the Managing Editor, dubbed as the "Most Powerful" person in the newsroom. The Man-Ed does everything from updating and seeing the dummies up to the printing of copies, the most powerful person is also the busiest and most stressed person  in the newsroom.

We had to leave the newsroom before people start running over us because the newsroom was starting to fill up with pressure, I could just feel it. So we went out to Manila Bulletin's canteen and it has this reputation of having one of the best selling Ramen noodles in Intramuros so I tried it and voila! It did live up to its reputation.

Manila Bulletin canteen's Seafood Ramen. Tasty!

So all of us left the Manila Bulletin a lot heavier. A heavy brain and of course a heavy stomach.