Second Part: The Unglamorous Life of Writers

[ Read Previously] THIS IS NOT A SIMPLE FLOWCHART FOR WRITERS, PUBLISHED ON AUGUST 29, 2023.

Let’s Call Them Anonymous: A Look at How People on the Sidelines Treat People in Media

It is not easy to build a name. More so a career in media. It takes a long walk, a long drive to hit the “publish” button, whether it is for print or digital media. However, behind the work of a media writer comes countless experiences that can demoralize or de-amplify a writer’s passion for writing. Without meaning to.

First, a writer is deprived of copyright ownership in the context of employee to employer service agreement, where a company hires a writer and the latter provides willful time to serve and fulfill objectives at work.

In real industry work, a position won’t be secured by a writer without acceding to the terms bound and founded by his or her employer from the start of hiring.

The second point of this article, that’s all about the “unglamorous” life of writers, is how media workers can be disputedly "VIPd", but not really VIP in the full sense of the word.

VIP is a label mostly intended for people who hold significant positions at work, which often takes a lot of skill, training, recommendations, and approbations from others; and yes, even votes for political positions.

But for media writers, the sidelines are the main thrust of the work, hours that are not in the full regalia of camera panning and privilege signing, which has been accustomed to by celebrity VIPs.

It must be noted that writers are deprived of longevity of employment from the very start by status quo media companies who are more concerned with getting protection from the influentials and giving them positions as columnists or easy buy as media owners.

The writers meanwhile had to be content with being “contractual” or freelancers, sometimes on a temp basis, or “up for renewal” commitment.

The fault in this system is the lack of employment opportunities and future security of the writer.

A good number of writers that I know of in the past chose to find work abroad or locally, in a different industry or lured to skilled work for the promise of better workers’ benefits. Some decided to pursue scholarships while there were those who simply stayed away because industry work did not pay well. A thankless job we call it.

 

Writers are made to work long hours, in an era of supposed media proclivity for clout building.

 

It’s the status quo they don’t want to admit. Only the well-heeled are given a dignified name and a worth-it work agreement by companies.

Anecdotes of Writers

 

I was reminded of a fact that at one point, one fellow media practitioner who could not find work for a very long time, politely got a break for camera work with writing duties. But sadly, that same female media practitioner for a company with foreign vested interests as employers, in many instances, did not give her salary directly to her.    

It is her “job recommender” who acted as a middleman, so she can be hired.  He happens to be a relative of hers, who had close connections with an insider, and her salary on her behalf. 

THIS WAS LEGIT WORK FOR A COMPANY where the practitioner was treated with such informality, like a cloaked slave of her recommender, where she clocked in the hours and skills for a media company; but it is her job recommender who benefitted from the remuneration.

In another situation, a writer enthusiastically shared her articles to a now-defunct newspaper.

Her stories were published in the daily, which was all about non-news but features and women’s articles; but she did not get paid for them.

 

Upon following up on the payment for her writeups, the writer was told over phone,  “kami nga hindi nababayaran ng kumpanya, ikaw pa? Pasensya na pero walang pera ang kumpanya…” the response was given by an insider Manager. Said broadsheet stopped publication and the staff moved on to form another broadsheet.  The writer was left unpaid for her articles.

 

In a third story, was an anecdote of a former colleague, when she was a practitioner for a top media station.

She shared her many instances of being bullied, sometimes bluntly, sometimes passive-aggressively by co-workers in the station. She was sometimes heckled at and was threatened to be spitted on, just because she was a woman. Stereotyped as an “easy” woman in the station.

She was pretty calm and she knew she could not do anything about the way women were treated especially those in the lower ranks of their career.

 

Yet another, anecdote is when a writer was faulted for owning a laptop, and her colleagues chidingly and tactlessly joked about destroying her computer for the pure fun of jesting. 

She left for home and her computer refused to function hours after the joke was given her.

THESE WERE NOT MAKE-BELIEVE STORIES. But actual real incidents for writers and media practitioners in the country, who go through a hard-fought battle to stay and pursue their profession in an industry that denies them stability; longevity of work, and worker’s rights; these apart from the anonymous benign treatment they get from strangers when they go out to the field, whether in front or behind the cameras.

 

One cannot simply fault communication graduates and practitioners when it is the anonymous people, the fence sitters that help build animosity for them. These discrimination and bias start with the way media professionals are treated by the industry they must work for; whether the job is done out of pure dedication, calling, professional choice, or passion for writing.

 

News Review Philippines 2023. Copyright by Anna Liza VB.

Revised at 12:56 pm local Philippine time.

Advocacy: If you personally have witnessed an instance or actual situation of a media practitioner, writer, or people in media being discriminated against, bullied, or shunned, please do not hesitate to bear witness and take note of the incident. Let’s make the world a nicer, more conducive place for the disenfranchised writers of the local media industry.