Who says you need to graduate and have a full-time job to influence society?
Last May 3, a class of 19 journalism students from the UP Diliman College of Mass Communication (UPD CMC) launched community news site “Blank Pages” in celebration of World Press Freedom Day.
The news site’s name refers to the stories of ordinary citizens and communities which need to be sought out by journalistic enterprise.
“Blank Pages started out as a class requirement for our newsroom subject Journalism 121 under senior instructor Evelyn Katigbak, but at some point, it became something more for everyone. A sort of passion project,” editor-in-chief Ratziel San Juan said.
More than anything else, the Blank Pages newsroom believes that even marginalized narratives can be a part of the news. “We didn’t just aim to build a website, we wanted to make a statement,” San Juan added.
The website is constructed, managed, and staffed entirely by third-year students. Their story lineup for May includes campus and national issues.
“We were inspired to tell the stories of people who weren’t usually covered by the mainstream or dominant media,” chief photographer Jerome Ignacio said.
“With only small-scale sponsors to ensure our publication’s integrity, the secret to making Blank Pages work is everyone’s determination … it’s more than enough to compensate for the lack of funds,” marketing head Kate Pabor said.
“It’s a collaboration of like-minded journalists from distinctive backgrounds,” associate editor Angelo Umengan said. “It was a joy to see everyone’s varying perspectives during the entire process.”
Blank Pages started publishing their stories yesterday and will be disseminating more in the coming weeks.
To catch their stories, follow @blankpagesnews on Twitter, and like their page Blank Pages.
