WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2009

K 1

Look to
the silver
lining!

First Filipino online

reporter tells all
By Fe Zamora with the INQ7.net brand name. It was to be
posted online at real time whenever possi-
“MADAM PRESIDENT, I AM FE B. ZAMORA, ble, just like radio breaking news, except
of INQ Seven Dot Net, the joint news website that it was printed onscreen. It was intend-
of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and GMA ed to be fast, accurate, no frills news. Just
Channel 7. My question is: ....” the facts.
That was the line I prepared for my first And where to get the news but at the cen-
press conference in Malacañang as the first ter of power itself? The INQ7.net wanted
online reporter in the country. I noted the its presence felt in the beats. But with a
collective puzzlement in the hall. What’s FIRST FILIPINO/ K3
that, they buzzed.
This is the story of online reporting in the
Philippines, and how INQUIRER led the pack.
Hard work, good journalism and shame-
less plugging. That was how INQ7.net, the
precursor of the Inquirer.net, faced the
ground-breaking challenge in the summer
of 2001.
A joint venture of the Philippine Daily In-
quirer, the country’s most influential news-
paper, and the TV network GMA 7,
INQ7.net was envisioned to be an online
news website fed by news from print and
TV. It was revolutionary, even futuristic at a
time when the Internet was an exclusive
and expensive novelty patronized mostly
by tech-crazy nerds. That was its niche.
But unless it was part of mainstream me-
dia, INQ7.net would not be a formidable
player in the country’s mass media. That
was my opinion. Sure, INQ7.net was run-
ning hard stuff from INQUIRER, GMA 7 and
its sister radio station, dzBB.
In fact, in January 2001, its running on-
line account of the radio coverage of the
Edsa people power revolt that ousted then
President Joseph Estrada attracted over a
million viewers, sending the website reel-
ing from overload. The response had the
INQ7.net staff ecstatic. There was an audi-
ence for online news. It was just a matter of
drawing the audience to their computers as
a daily habit, much like reading a newspa-
per.

Real time breaking news

The idea of producing real time breaking
news was initiated by then editor in chief
Rigoberto Tiglao. It was his baby. The con-
cept was to produce original news stories

24/7 at 24
By JV Rufino
ON ITS 24TH YEAR, INQUIRER IS BECOM-
ing a 24/7 news organization.
No longer are its rhythms governed
solely by the deadlines and space limits
imposed by the tyrannies of the printing
press and a fleet of delivery trucks
(though that still has its place). Not all its
editors shuffle in at noon to work on a
news product that will only come to light
the next day (hence the strange time con-
structs one hears all the time in print
newsrooms—“Tuesday for Wednesday,”
“Sunday for Monday”).
Instead, the imperative of the news
minute now drives the INQUIRER Group.
From print reporters, bureau correspon-
dents and a dedicated, multitalented
team of online reporters come a steady
stream of stories shared with the public as
mobile text alerts (via 4467, the Group’s
mobile access code), stories posted on the
Group’s network of desktop and mobile
sites, Twitter and, yes, the printed news-
paper, both in paper and an enhanced,
digital facsimile of paper (see
http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdis-
play/viewer.aspx?cid=1109). Soon, the
INQUIRER Group’s stories will take to the
airwaves as its radio station begins opera-
tions.
With that imperative comes a new chal-
lenge: To engage readers as participants
and not passive recipients of editorial dik-
tat. And so INQUIRER readers send their
own text alerts to Citizen’s Call, the pa-
per’s mobile text hotline for anything
from a dangerous intersection to uncol-
lected garbage. Comments flow in to the
Group’s websites and stories are shared
on Facebook, Multiply and Digg.
Is it enough? Not by a long shot. More
plans are in the offing.
Sixty-eight million mobile phones con-
stitute a compelling audience; twenty-
four million Internet connections, an
emerging future one. Eight million over-
seas Filipinos want news about their
homeland and their own communities.
We will be wherever our audience is,
whenever they want news and informa-
tion, in whatever form they want.
We’ve pioneered many changes in the
last 24 years we’ve been in existence. We
will pioneer yet many more.
One thing will not change, though—the
journalistic principles we uphold. That is
our commitment to our readers, employ-
ees and stakeholders.