There was a time in the early 80s when reporters wrote their stories in the weathered Olympic or Underwood typewriters of the past. Stories were then dictated to Manila-based editors via collect calls at the Angeles City Telephone Company.
If the telephone firm experienced technical issues, the news did not get to Manila. The film rolls of photojournalists were sent via Philippine Rabbit couriers. The film rolls were developed at the newspaper office where the photo editor chose the best photos to go with the story. The whole process was time consuming and nerve-wracking.
This went on for years at the Shanghai Restaurant where most members of the Pampanga Press Club wrote their stories everyday at the huge round table. When Mount Pinatubo volcano erupted in 1991, the Shanghai Restaurant had been closed temporarily – and the PPC members scattered to various directions – some stayed in Angeles City while the others preferred to work at the Philippine Information Agency office in San Fernando.
By the mid-80s, the personal computer and the fax machine appeared in the market and reporters at the former office of the PIA started using them, storing data in the diskette and sending stories to Manila via fax which was more faster, but at times the data received in Manila can hardly be read by the editors.
The advent of emails changed the way reporters sent their stories – the copies were more clearer and the editors can immediately do their work as they rushed to send the newspapers to the presses.
For over a century, the public got the latest news via the newspapers and broadcast news. Although the news and current events can be viewed on TV or be heard on the radio, the public will have to wait the next morning to read it on the newspapers. The traditional media has been viewed this way for decades.
By the early 2000, the media shifted to social media after acknowledging the fact that digital media was no longer a fad and it has the power of persuasion, the power to educate allowing people all over the world to make informed decisions in their lives.
Take this. Each day, there are more than 600 million Tweets, 5 billion Likes on Facebook, and 100 million photos and videos uploaded to Instagram. There is also a wealth of information that can be accessed anytime and the latest news that can be instantly conveyed to the remotest part of the world. The entire world shrunk in the digital age.
Today, the Pampanga Press Club, the oldest media organization in the Philippines, is turning digital via the iOrbit News Portal – the first online news portal now widely read all over the world. Barely three months in operation, we took the one small step and the giant leap to digital news – much faster and reliable. It also gave the assurance to Pampanga mediamen they now have a much freer venue for their news – unshackled from the dictates of businessmen and politicians – keeping their dignity amid the challenging times.
The shift from print media to digital media now allows us to go beyond our comfort zones – iOrbit News will provide top digital media news, with in-depth coverage of issues and events to Filipinos wherever they may be.