
Maria Ressa, CEO & Executive Editor of Rappler
“Exploring media breakthroughs”, this is the overall theme of the Student Media Congress held by and at De La Salle University-Manila last July 26-27, 2013. The first day of the Congress consists of multiple lectures by some of the most influential figures in the media landscape. With over 50 schools from across the nation and more than a thousand students participated in this big event, this is definitely an unforgettable experience. Big time sponsors also came and added excitement to this event. The talks and presentations of the speakers are the most awaited part of the whole Congress. Each notable speakers talked about their fields relating to mass media—the digital, print, radio and television.

John Nery, Senior Editor of PDI
The Congress invited well-known speakers from each major types of media. Maria Ressa of Rappler with her lecture entitled, “The Power of Many”, covered the potential of the masses. While John Nery of Philippine Daily Inquirer lead the talk for the future of the print media, “Redefining reading: Taking print to the next level”, explaining that there is a change happening in newsprint industry, which is “the migration to digital edition”. Jaemark Tordecilla of InterAksyon handled the talk for “Online Community Management: Motivating People to Take Action” which centered on how social media unifies the masses. According to him, people tend to accept information “confirming their beliefs” and filtering out information that contradicts them.

Val Victa of the Manila Broadcasting Company
With his talk, “For Your Ears Only: Radio Today and Tomorrow”, Val Victa of Manila Broadcasting Company tackled that radio will persevere even with the outburst of technological advances. The set of talks for day one ended with Nandy Villar of ABS-CBN, “Watching Outside the Box: Going beyond Television”. He explains how ABS-CBN is planning to cope with the fast developing technological world.
Along with these major lecturers, partners from Globe, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star, and the Manila Bulletin also gave presentations about the future of their organizations. They spoke of incorporating social media in their services and also expanding their range by evolving with the technologies of today.

Jaemark Tordecilla, Managing Editor of InterAksyon
In sum, the primary message of the series of lectures on the first day of the Student Media Congress is that classic media platforms such as print, media, and television can change in accordance also to the evolution of technology. To cap off the event, Randy Torrecampo of the DLSU Student Media Office gave a summation of the activities of the day followed by the closing remarks by the DLSU Dean of Student Affairs, Fritzie De Vera. The LSDC Street and DLSU Inner Soul closed the event by singing the DLSU centennial song, Live it Up!
The first Student Media Congress is organized by the DLSU Student Media Office, in partnership with the DLSU Culture & Arts Office (CAO) and DLS-College of St. Benilde Student Publications Office (DLS-CSB SPO) and endorsed by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
KALATAS is an official media sponsor of the Student Media Congress.
Press release and photos from the DLSU Student Media Office.