2022 RCM Pro Patria Journalism Awards

In keeping with precedents, the RCM Committee of the 2022 Pro Patria Journalism Awards consulted with the members of media to define what the awards would stand for. Ruperto S. Nicdao, Jr. who is the President of the Kapisanan ng mga Broadcasters ng Pilipinas, commented that a journalist to be worthy of the award must have an impact on society. Almost to a man which included officers of the National Press Club, rejected bloggers since the structure of discipline and peer review has not been instituted or formalized in their case. One reminded us as well a quote from Virginia Woolf, an early 20th century intellectual, to wit: “for masterpieces are not single and solitary births; they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common by the body of people that the experience of the mass is behind the voice.” All told, the collective work of our outstanding journalists is a masterpiece.

This year’s Outstanding Journalist expressed what the people ask themselves in their daily reverie: Alex Magno tells them the sense and impact in their lives of international events; Iris Gonzales adeptly finding the truth in a web of facts, reporting them like a maestro producing ode to life that is highly appreciated; Joaquin “Quinito” Henson has raised the level of sports journalism into an art. On tv-radio, Elpidio ‘Deo’ Macalma shocks as he scoops foibles of famous personalities which encourages public vigilance, while TV Investigative reporter Sandra Aguinaldo gives us the quintessence of a journalist who lights the darkness in the daily struggle of the ordinary Filipino. Jose Roberto ‘Roby’ Alampay led the production of a documentary, “A Story of Our Islands”, which instilled pride in the bounty of nature and appreciation of our beautiful people and country.