It’s been a while since I wrote a column for my mother publication. Much has happened and I can’t help but express my disgust to the proliferation of writers, blogger/vloggers who fondly declared themselves as “journalist”.
In the advent of AI nowadays, these self-declared “journalist” are a dime a dozen. Gone are the days that before a write up can hit the reading public it has already passed and undergone the tedious process. First it has to be vetted as true and authentic, it has passed the keen eye of proofreader(s) before it reached the desk of the editor, the scrutinizing eyes of the editor which by the title itself is self-explanatory.
But why the proliferation of those cheap writers?
In the advent of Artificial Intelligence, more and more writers resorted to short cut, exposing their laziness just to keep ahead with the competition. Call it scoop or whatever. They dread in passing thru the process since it will take some time that by the time they posted it online, others have already gone ahead. And the result is quiet disturbing. Fake news and misinformation proliferate. It is very hard to correct and rebut unvetted and unedited writings since once published it has already multiplied exponentially after being shared numerous times.
Money. This is the root of all these disgraceful acts. The more followers you have, the more viewers you can attract, the better. It’s no longer about a writer’s moral obligation to spread the truth. It’s no longer about whether it has hurt somebody on the process, or whether it has created confusion and agitation to some souls.
Sports writing was not spared by this so called phenomenon. Bloggers/vloggers with no background about sports whatsoever invaded the online platform thru social media, in the guise as journalist/online writers cum bloggers/vloggers hitting sponsors for commercial purposes, for money. No problem if you want to earn some for living as long you propagate truth, facts and not false information just to get money and get ahead of the competition.
For sports writing is not about competition for money. It is more about reporting events, true facts and stories about the athlete’s/personalities struggles, their path to winning and losing that should be read and understood by the public.
THE KID IN TOWN. Majority of golfers playing the Apo Golf and country club have noticed the vast improvement of its layout lately. Fairways are trimmed regularly and well maintained. Bunkers are renovated, elevated and widened with constant replacement of white sand. Tress in the fairways are well trimmed while greens are regularly manicured.
Much credit should be given to its new Club Manager, Ed Marasigan, a teaching pro from Houston Texas, who also previously managed a golf resort club in Texas. Ed is a low key/ low profile individual who is always ready with his mile when approached. Born in Davao City with Batanguenio roots but grew in the USA after his parents migrated in the early sixties. His first major obstacle upon arriving in Apo Golf is communication but little by little he has overcome it. Although he is trying hard to communicate in Tagalog with a whisk of selected Bisaya dialect, his American accent is noticeable and hard to be hidden no matter how hard he tried.
Ed has introduced some innovations in the club management that has passed thru the scrutinizing ayes of the management board and so far have reap praises and member’s approval.
So much more to do Ed for Apo Golf’s improvement. Keep up the good work.
