Life on the Beat: The Senate
Life on the Beat – What Journalism Students Saw
The Senate:
The good life
By Mark D. Merueñas
If, as a journalist, you yearn for the good life, you might want to consider being assigned to the Senate. There, reporters have the privilege of interviewing some of the most powerful men in the country. Most of the time, reporters don’t even chase the news, the news come to them. And reporting comes with appreciable amenities.
The Teodoro Locsin Sr. Room, or the Senate Press Room, is on the right wing of the second floor of the Senate building. Lined up along the walls are computer stations—around 25 of them. A computer station is reserved for each reporter. There are those who bring their laptops with them, like TJ Burgonio of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Marvin Sy of The Philippine Star.
On the job
Most reporters in the Senate still use the traditional tape recorders during interviews or speeches.
While print and radio reporters are, most of the time, clad in casual clothing—shirt, polo shirt, maong pants, or slacks—broadcast reporters are almost always dressed in smart casual to semi-formal clothes. An NBN reporter always comes in in a polo shirt and then changes into a barong tagalong when he goes on air.
Press releases, mostly arriving after lunch, come in different forms. There are press statements, news releases, photo releases, copies of resolutions, and interview transcripts. On the average, four to five press releases get sent to the press room.
Reporters do not have to jot down every word that a senator says. Instead, someone else transcribes every interview, speech, or statement. After a press briefing, someone starts circulating sheets of paper containing the transcription of the latest event that transpired in the Senate.
Media practitioners in the Senate, it is safe to say, are very well-fed. Their breakfast, lunch, and merienda are served in the press office free of charge.
Breakfast and lunch usually come in styrofoam containers filled with a complete meal, dessert usually included. One day, media people feast on rice with kare-kare and fried anchovies, with a kakanin as dessert. The day before, it was rice with chicken and a slice of mango. Each meal comes with a drink, usually C2 bottled iced tea.
During merienda, buns of bread arrive at the office with bottled iced tea again.
It is not only in the press room that media get treated with free meals. In the middle of Senate inquiries, pansit and bottled iced tea are handed out to journalists and guests who were invited to the hearings.
The flow of food doesn’t stop there. Press briefings are usually held after lunch, right before merienda. Since it’s almost time for merienda, as soon as a senator finishes a briefing and steps out of the press room, in comes what fast food lovers would call an “up-sized” version of their meals—bilaos of pancit, boxes of pizzas, and gallons of ice cream. That day turned out to be Senator Mar Roxas’s birthday. Because of this, Senator Francisco Pangilinan suggested the suspension of the day’s regular session.
On another day, lechon was served. One reporter exclaimed, “Lechon? Ah, Thursday nga pala!”
Meeting the press
Press briefings are held to get official statements from the senators. Almost daily, a senator is scheduled to speak before the press. Reporters don’t have to go to every senator, the senators come to them. Inside the press room is a podium. Right behind it is a wall where a red curtain serves as a backdrop for the official seal of the Senate.
For several minutes, a senator talks about a specific issue he wishes to comment on. As soon as the senator steps down the podium and cameras stop rolling, reporters flock to the senator to ask more questions. Reporters casually verify or follow up on some things. Most of the time, the senator and the reporters get to exchange a joke or two, talking as if they were very close friends.
Senate inquiries are held as frequently as press releases come in big numbers. Most senators are assigned to chair two committees. Depending on the issue at hand or the people and government body involved, different senators get to head different inquiries.
After each inquiry, a press conference immediately follows. In the conference, senators summarize what had been discussed in the inquiry. As though addressing a masa audience, the senators try to explain ideas in a very simple way.
Recently, the chamber has decided to speed up the passage of several bills by conducting sessions five days a week from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Again for the convenience of those reporters who might be unable to attend Senate sessions because they might probably be rushing to finish a story inside the press office, a closed-circuit television set broadcasts the entire session. If reporters need to follow up on something or get reactions from other senators, they go upstairs and interview the legislators in their offices.
Reporters in the Senate beat depend heavily on the activities of the senators for their stories. If no committee hearing or session is scheduled for the day, most reporters don’t have any stories. Since cameramen are needed only when a senator is around, they usually slouch on their seats and sleep since they don’t have anyone to shoot.
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