Philippine E-Journals

Campus Journalism-Related Factors and Journalistic Merits: Basis for Upgrading of the Student Paper in Response to ASEAN Integration 2015

Jan Vincent B. Laroya | Renan P. Limjuco

 

Abstract:

There are issues and concerns which confront student journalism these days, and these include concerns regarding the needs of the students especially due to the upcoming ASEAN Integration 2015. This study aimed to determine whether the campus journalism-related factors affect the journalistic merits of student publications in Davao City. The researcher made use of descriptive correlation design as well as the descriptive comparative approach involving 87 student journalists from 13 student publications of selected colleges and universities. Utilizing researcher-made questionnaires and employing mean, standard deviation, t-test, Chi-square, and Pearson r, this investigation found that the student writers have high levels of journalism proficiency; the writers’ journalistic freedom is granted and provisions of RA 7079 are implemented. Also, the relevance of issues is rated high, periodicity and regularity is rated very high, while volume of relevant articles and recognitions and awards are moderate. Moreover, the journalism proficiency is significantly correlated with the volume of relevant articles and recognitions and awards while the writers’ journalistic freedom is significantly correlated with the relevance of issues and periodicity. Lastly, the extent of implementation of RA 7079 is significantly correlated with relevance of issues. Thus, the more proficient the student writers are, the more relevant articles can be found in the issues of the student papers and the higher the quality of the write-ups are. The results suggested for the creation of an action plan for the improvement and upgrade of the student publications which would make them more adoptive and responsive to the needs of ASEAN Integration 2015.