Rocking
Rocking
Updated 01:03am (Mla time) Dec 09, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 9, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
In youth, the heart exults and sings,
the pulses leap, the feet have wings.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
AS the Philippine Daily Inquirer celebrates its 19th anniversary today, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it has turned out to be Longfellow's kind of youth -- energetic, dynamic, independent, bold and innovative, eager to explore new horizons. In other words, very much full of life and enthusiasm.
This year's anniversary theme, "Rocks at 19" certainly speaks a lot about the Inquirer. Rock music, after all, is universally identified with the young and is generally upbeat. At its birth, it was considered revolutionary. During its "golden age" in the 1960s, it was viewed as an expression of the young generation's defiance of the establishment, though to this day it is also said to have given the young a sense of cohesion.
The Inquirer, in a sense, is similar to rock music. In its early, fledgling days, it was a powerful voice in the "revolution" against the corrupt Marcos dictatorship. Following up on its monumental role in bringing down the dictatorship, the paper again was a defiant voice against the plunderous Joseph Estrada regime and contributed to its fall. And to this day, to use a cliché, it continues to afflict the comfortable, even as it seeks to comfort the afflicted.
Meanwhile, it has been blazing new trails. To make for faster and easier delivery of Inquirer copies to its readers in the Visayas and Mindanao, it put up separate printing plants in Cebu and Davao. Then, it led the Philippine press' "incursion" into the Internet. It was also the first in the country to introduce a free paper, aptly called Libre, a tabloid that is circulated in Metro Manila's mass rail transit stations.
The year that is coming to close saw the Inquirer coming up with more innovations. One is the "Correction Box" where, as the name suggests, factual errors in previous reports are corrected. Another is "In the Know," which provides brief backgrounders on the issues of the day to help readers get a better appreciation of the news. Earlier, in another first, it went into broadcast media with "Super!" on 103.5 K-Lite and InqTV on ABC-5.
There have been other bold moves that show more than just youthful dynamism on the part of this paper. These were made not so much to maintain the newspaper's position as a market leader, which comes almost naturally with the quality of service it provides and which is reflected by its position at the top among the nation's broadsheets. They were made as part of a continuing, all-around effort to live faithfully by the tenets of the journalistic profession, improve service and reach out to a larger audience -- here and abroad -- especially the youth. This is in line with its mission "as a world-class processor and provider of news and information ... serving as a catalyst of social progress." At the same time, these moves keep the Inquirer in step with the fast advancing information-communication technology.
No, the Inquirer is making today's Filipino youth a special audience not because they belong to the same generation. The Inquirer subscribes to the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future."
But the way things look, our present generation of leaders doesn't offer much promise about building the future for our youth. Still it is not too late to build our youth for the future. And in this task, the Inquirer will keep doing its share.
As the youth of today become adults of tomorrow, they will eventually take on the mantle of leadership in this country -- in politics, business, religion and every field of human endeavor. The Inquirer, too, will inevitably grow in age, but we will strive not to grow old. For as Samuel Ullman said: "Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul."
Yes, we are committed to keeping our ideals and our enthusiasm.
Updated 01:03am (Mla time) Dec 09, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 9, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
In youth, the heart exults and sings,
the pulses leap, the feet have wings.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
AS the Philippine Daily Inquirer celebrates its 19th anniversary today, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it has turned out to be Longfellow's kind of youth -- energetic, dynamic, independent, bold and innovative, eager to explore new horizons. In other words, very much full of life and enthusiasm.
This year's anniversary theme, "Rocks at 19" certainly speaks a lot about the Inquirer. Rock music, after all, is universally identified with the young and is generally upbeat. At its birth, it was considered revolutionary. During its "golden age" in the 1960s, it was viewed as an expression of the young generation's defiance of the establishment, though to this day it is also said to have given the young a sense of cohesion.
The Inquirer, in a sense, is similar to rock music. In its early, fledgling days, it was a powerful voice in the "revolution" against the corrupt Marcos dictatorship. Following up on its monumental role in bringing down the dictatorship, the paper again was a defiant voice against the plunderous Joseph Estrada regime and contributed to its fall. And to this day, to use a cliché, it continues to afflict the comfortable, even as it seeks to comfort the afflicted.
Meanwhile, it has been blazing new trails. To make for faster and easier delivery of Inquirer copies to its readers in the Visayas and Mindanao, it put up separate printing plants in Cebu and Davao. Then, it led the Philippine press' "incursion" into the Internet. It was also the first in the country to introduce a free paper, aptly called Libre, a tabloid that is circulated in Metro Manila's mass rail transit stations.
The year that is coming to close saw the Inquirer coming up with more innovations. One is the "Correction Box" where, as the name suggests, factual errors in previous reports are corrected. Another is "In the Know," which provides brief backgrounders on the issues of the day to help readers get a better appreciation of the news. Earlier, in another first, it went into broadcast media with "Super!" on 103.5 K-Lite and InqTV on ABC-5.
There have been other bold moves that show more than just youthful dynamism on the part of this paper. These were made not so much to maintain the newspaper's position as a market leader, which comes almost naturally with the quality of service it provides and which is reflected by its position at the top among the nation's broadsheets. They were made as part of a continuing, all-around effort to live faithfully by the tenets of the journalistic profession, improve service and reach out to a larger audience -- here and abroad -- especially the youth. This is in line with its mission "as a world-class processor and provider of news and information ... serving as a catalyst of social progress." At the same time, these moves keep the Inquirer in step with the fast advancing information-communication technology.
No, the Inquirer is making today's Filipino youth a special audience not because they belong to the same generation. The Inquirer subscribes to the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future."
But the way things look, our present generation of leaders doesn't offer much promise about building the future for our youth. Still it is not too late to build our youth for the future. And in this task, the Inquirer will keep doing its share.
As the youth of today become adults of tomorrow, they will eventually take on the mantle of leadership in this country -- in politics, business, religion and every field of human endeavor. The Inquirer, too, will inevitably grow in age, but we will strive not to grow old. For as Samuel Ullman said: "Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul."
Yes, we are committed to keeping our ideals and our enthusiasm.
posted by Dante at 7:39 PM
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