23/09/2026
๐๐ข๐๐จ๐ ๐ก | ๐๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐
โKuya, pwede pa picture?โ
โAte, pwede pasend sa mga pictures?โ
โAsa naman ang mga pictures?โ
And just like that, the student publication is summonedโnot to cover a story, interview participants, or investigate an issue, but to serve as the schoolโs unofficial, free event camera crew.
A program starts. The lights turn on. Performers take the stage. Somewhere in the crowd, a student journalist is asked to take โjust a few pictures.โ A few pictures somehow become a hundred. A hundred turns into โCan you send everything?โ Over time, the campus community has begun treating publication staffers less as reporters and more as photo-on-demand service providers.
The problem begins when documenting an event becomes the publicationโs entire identity. Imagine asking the campus press to cover an activity, only to care about obtaining hundreds of photos completely stripped of news value. Where is the story? Where is the context? Where are the voices of the students, or the issues that deserve attention? A publication should not be reduced to a gallery of smiling faces simply because its members carry cameras.
It is a misunderstanding worth confronting. Student publications are often judged by the equipment they carry rather than the journalism they produce. Yes, photojournalists document school activities, competitions, and celebrations. But carrying a camera does not make a publication an event vendor. Student journalists are more than cameras with school IDs. A publication exists to tell stories, and there is a stark difference between journalistic coverage and acting as a hired photography team.
When a publication covers an activity journalistically, it is not merely collecting attractive photos for an organizer's page. It is searching for key moments, gathering facts, listening to students, providing context, and asking the questions that transform a routine assembly into a meaningful narrative to inform the student body.
Furthermore, student journalists are students first. They manage classes, assignments, exams, and personal responsibilities alongside their media duties. Expecting them to cater to individual requests for personal photos during every ceremony, competition, and activity reduces journalism to unpaid labor. While photojournalism and event photography may share tools, their primary duties should never be confused.
It is time to shift the question from โCan the publication take pictures for us?โ to โWhat story can the publication tell about this?โ That change in perspective matters. Student publications are the eyes, ears, and voices of the student body. Their value is not measured by the number of photos dumped into a drive after an afternoon event, but by how effectively they report issues, represent students, and record history.
The camera is only a tool. Journalism is the job.
The next time you see a student journalist carrying a camera, remember: they are not just taking pictures. They are looking for a story. And often, the most important thing they capture isnโt a photograph at allโit is the truth.
๐ Sophia Coyoca
๐จ Revah Ybaรฑez & Zurienne Rivera
๐ฅ Necolle Casimpan & Malou Baguio
