[ 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.
