Initially, my goal was simple: I just wanted to shed light on the research found by my university online. Our institution produces intriguing studies that deserve public attention. I just wanted to have a wider audience because people have to know about the findings of academic research, such as the high coliform level of river basins in Aklan, and what’s happening in the province’s environmental front.  

Unlike my peers, my academic identity did not align with communication studies. I’m an agriculture student with a heart for journalism from the province of Aklan. That’s why when I applied to the Aries Rufo Fellowship of Rappler, no one knew about it besides my college dean who recommended me for the program.

“What will I do there? Am I qualified? I am not from a journalism school.” I remember doubting myself multiple times. But in the end, I decided to take the chance, and fortunately, I was chosen as one of the pioneer batch of campus journalists of this fellowship.

Demanding

My undergraduate program is both physically and mentally demanding. The whole duration of the fellowship was a balancing act for me: I had an 8 am to 5 pm full-time class, I was an active leader in the university, editor of a student publication, and had other community engagements to focus on. Despite these challenges, I managed to produce 11 community stories, four of which highlighted the offerings of Aklan beyond Boracay Island.

This includes what makes our oysters tastier than any other provinces in the Philippines, where to buy the ‘best dried fish’ in Aklan, and how PWDs in town can be ‘Person with this Ability’ as they craft Nito products for living. 

I also covered controversial issues in the province, such as villagers protesting the planned wind farm expansion, which could affect the way of life of the locals and harm Boracay’s sole source of potable water. I co-authored a story about developers in Boracay using ‘forcible entry’ to fence off Boracay’s Ati Land.

I encountered the hardships that every journalist faces: difficulties in obtaining data, agencies unwilling to grant interviews, political pressure, and censorship, among many others. I vividly remember traveling for three hours, only to be told that I should leave the venue of a public committee hearing because a campus journalist like me was not invited to attend it. 

The story I was most invested in was my investigative work about the Nabaoy River and its fight against the renewable energy project in Aklan which I spent five months studying. During those times, I was excited to finish my class every week, so I could go down to the community, which is a three-hour drive away from home, to engage with locals, experts, and environmentalists who were rallying to preserve this river.

With pride and honor, I am so happy to have been able to whip up a wave after creating some ripples. A week after this story was published in Rappler, those who initially said yes to reendorsing the project, had a change of heart and are set to relocate the turbines away from Nabaoy River. This is a win not just for me, but for the community I write about. 

What the program was like for me

Whenever we submit community stories, Rappler emphasizes ethical journalism and the importance of integrity, accuracy, and accountability – that there would be external pressures, but the ethics of storytelling should be at the core of your values. These values are not exclusively taught within the confines of a classroom but are ingrained through hands-on experience and a commitment to journalistic principles.

As an associate editor of Eamigas Publication, the lessons and techniques that I learned, from AI usage to data gathering methods, up to writing and editing, were applied to the editorial processes of our publication. This training ground has taught me, as campus writer, to go beyond just university updates. We should touch what’s happening outside and be aware of what’s happening in our community. 

Rappler taught me that you don’t need a journalism degree to be a journalist. The mantle of journalism transcends formal education. It underscores the notion that journalism is more than just a profession. It is a commitment to truth-seeking and a dedication to serving the public interest. – Rappler.com

Jed Nykolle Harme is the associate editor of Aklan State University’s Eamigas Publication and the editor-in-charge of Explained PH-Aklan. She was also an Aries Rufo Journalism fellow of Rappler for 2023-2024.