NEVER report a lie!
This was the message imparted by Vice President and outgoing Education Secretary Sara Duterte to campus journalists attending this year’s National Schools Press Conference in Carcar, Cebu.
Thousands of campus journalists have converged in Carcar for the NSPC which will last until July 12.
She also told the budding journalists never to assume.
“Never print, post or circulate something that you know is not the truth. Huwag ninyong sirain ang imahe ng iba’t-ibang organisasyon at mga tao (Don’t destroy the image of organizations and persons). Never assume and do not print a lie,” Duterte said.
She added that opinion writers should also know the difference between assumption and opinion.
“Kapag opinyon ang sinusulat ninyo, never assume anything. Wag ninyong ninyong ipaghalo ang assumption sa opinion magkaiba ‘yun (If you are writing an opinion piece, never assume anything. Don’t mix assumption with opinion, they’re different),” she added.
Duterte said she is proud of campus journalists and what they have achieved to represent their respective regions in the NSPC.
“We all want to see you as award-winning journalists in the future, not just for national awards but also for international awards,” she said.
The DepEd said the conduct of the NSPC is aligned with the thrust of Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.
This year’s NSPC has the theme “Galing, Talino at Husay ng mga Batang Makabansa sa Diwa ng MATATAG na Adhika,” which the department said is aimed at responding to its commitment to foster holistic development through the MATATAG Basic Education Agenda of the Marcos administration.
The NSPC activities for individual contests for elementary and secondary include news writing, feature writing, editorial writing, science and technology writing, sports writing, copyreading and headline writing, photojournalism, editorial cartooning, and column writing.
The group contests include radio script writing and broadcasting, collaborative desktop publishing, online publishing and TV script writing and broadcasting.
There is also a contest for the school paper category which covers the news page, editorial page, feature page, science and technology page and sports page.
Region IV-A Calabarzon is gunning for its 10th championship in this year’s NSPC.
