Love the truth even when it hurts

Keynote speech at Department of Education conference on high school journalism curriculum, October 29, 2018

When I was in high school, I never imagined I would ever be older than any high school teacher or principal. But here I am, older than many of you, but not necessarily wiser.

I shouldn’t even be here now because this is the usual time when I am preparing for the daily newscast that I co-anchor. Yet it’s important for me to be here instead for what you asked me to do, which is to share what I can to help you teach journalism not just to future journalists but to Filipino citizens. What you do is important.

I was in grade five when I decided I wanted to be a reporter. Since then, I feel I have devoted myself to journalism. I was on my high school newspaper; then I was a reporter and editor on my college newspaper. This year, 2018, marks my 30th year as a professional journalist.

I remember my first newspaper story in 1988, in the Manila Chronicle, about a tiny, obscure island in the Visayas where developers were rushing in to buy up land even without titles. That island was Boracay.

I recall the excitement I felt doing that story, and what being even a young, unknown reporter enabled me to do – meet and talk to a wide variety of people in such a beautiful but already endangered place; learn new things few others knew; challenge my mind to synthesize information, discern what was true and what was not, and then try to make all of it interesting; and tell a story to a large audience.

Journalism enabled me to tell readers that beyond the white sands of Boracay were serious issues that were relevant to many other tourist destinations in the Philippines.

Most of all, it enabled a young person to serve society in a vital way. Journalism felt good in many ways.

Fast forward 30 years later and we can see that reportage in 1988 had little effect. Public awareness is often not enough to stop ruin and solve problems. So while journalism is fulfilling, it can also be very frustrating.

But we do it anyway, because we’re convinced that society is much better off with us around. We like to think that many agree, even if they don’t always agree with our reporting.

Journalism serves society by being a mirror for its citizens, even if what they see is not always pretty. Journalism serves society by finding truths that people in power want to keep hidden; journalism serves society by striving to improve it. Journalism serves society by making the important interesting enough so that the public pays attention.

These days, we know that journalism is no longer the monopoly of full-time professional journalists.

Technology has enabled ordinary citizens, including your teen-age students, to do the things we journalists have been doing for generations – gather information, create stories, publish and broadcast, and share with many, now often without leaving your bedroom. Some citizen journalists today can even have more influence than professional journalists

That’s why the rising generation, the ones who will replace us, has been called the most empowered generation in history.

But technology can also do the opposite of good, as we are seeing today with the weaponization of social media, one of the most revolutionary tools of our time. Social media is being used to attack truth, to attack institutions that rely on evidence, to attack journalists who expose uncomfortable facts, to attack democracy. All in the service of power.

How can we raise and teach the rising generation to serve society rather than be used in its ruin? One is to teach and respect the values of the Enlightenment.

The Age of Enlightenment was when science began to question many hallowed beliefs. The Enlightenment asserted the primacy of evidence over loyalty – loyalty to leaders, or to religious or political beliefs.

Centuries later, the tensions between evidence and loyalty are still playing out in various ways.

If the scientists of the world agree after years of research that climate change exists, will you still believe a leader or politician who says otherwise, just to keep oil companies happy? But many do.

As educators, we must cultivate a devotion to inquiry and finding evidence even in the face of partisan belief and fake news.

Tell your students about Galileo, the Italian astronomer who used science to prove that the sun did not revolve around the earth; in truth, it was actually the earth and other planets that revolved around the sun. But that went against religious beliefs at the time; and Galileo was trolled by religious leaders.

Tell your students about Rizal, who wrote truthfully about the abuses of the friars of his time, and argued that they were just as human as anybody else. This was at a time when to criticize friars was the same as slandering the church and even God. Rizal was persecuted for speaking truth to power, but he stood his ground. Many of my colleagues in this profession continue in this tradition of speaking truth to power.

Please tell your students that the roots of journalistic traditions are not the first newspapers or magazines – it is the age-old compulsion to find facts and evidence, present the truth, and make it compelling to the public.

To be a journalist, or simply a responsible citizen, is to be skeptical. To be skeptical of what is shared with you on social media or via text, to withhold judgment without more evidence.

Don’t share something merely because you agree with it – share it because you know it is true and people need to know.

We know that many of your students will not grow up to be journalists. Even if they choose other professions, they can still grow up with the qualities of the best journalists: the spirit of inquiry, a commitment to facts, and skepticism.

To be a responsible citizen is to be skeptical of anyone in power, not to believe everything they say, and to stand your ground when you find evidence that contradicts belief or accusation.

Evidence is at the core of the rule of law, another legacy of the Age of Enlightenment. Gone should be the days when a single man’s word was the last word, like a king’s or a pope’s or a dictator’s word. There was no need back then for evidence, just a man’s wish or order. But those days when evidence had little or no value could be coming back.

Educators like yourselves are at the frontline of preserving and strengthening these values, of moving our society forward rather than backward. The bedrock of an advanced and humane society is fact-based governance and the primacy of truth.

Teach your students to love the truth even when it contradicts their own beliefs, love the truth even when it’s different from what our leaders say, love it even when it goes against what our friends and relatives tell us.

Love the truth so much that you will work extremely hard to find it. Love the truth even when it hurts.

If you can teach that, you will already be a success, and society will forever be grateful for your service.

Maraming salamat po, at mabuhay kayong lahat.