Atom Araullo, Joyce Pring and Richard Heydarian for STAND FOR TRUTH

April 15 is going to be a little different. Next gen reporters will do STAND FOR TRUTH , all for 15 weeks. It is a program produced by GMA News and Public Affairs, funded by Youtube. They are an Innovation Fund Recepient.

This is promising as Richard Heydarian, Atom Araullo, Joyce Pring will be at the helm of the show. Field reporters include real young blood millennials, even Gen Z personalities namely Bhea Jeem Docyogen who is a proud Igorot and radio disc jockey from Baguio, Anthony Esguerra a smart reporter and fellow in New Media and Journalism at Ball State University, Indiana, USA, Asmarie Labao a former forester and DENR Information Officer from Marawi, Ardo Miravalles a Certified Public Account specializing in media and entertainment, Darwin Quirino a Communications Officer for Department of Foreign Affairs-Office of Middle East and African Affairs, Manal Sugadol, a licensed English teacher and a former administrative assistant from Cotabato, Larize Lee a Filipino-Chinese and former GMA Artist Center Public Relations Executive, the youngest of which is 17yo Eduard Faraon who is a Senior High School campus journalist and Jerald Uy a former TV reporter, Road Safety Advocate and vlogger. These guys and gals are just starting, so stay tuned as they unfurl their work on GMA’s online properties.

Atom says “They have undergone training with stellar names in journalism even people behind the camera to make these stories. It was a very strong field, 150 submissions and we had to pick 10 from it. They are young but not naive reporters and I can’t want to see them evolve. I would say it would be a waste of talent if we do not maximize the story telling talent of these reporters and journalists. The platform becomes bigger and bigger, it is not just for this organization. Anyone can upload content but there are lots of potential. The format is evolving, we want it to be fresh and different from television, visual but it is a daily show.”

Richard Heydarian adds “I was inspired when they pitched this to me, I got to know these people, I am a teacher by heart and these guys and gals are the cream of the crop. We are now talking about how to make this a team, to make this a gold standard for the region. We have a tough battle, but very confident in the team, we can sync productions so we could get more. We do not want this to be seasonal, these things can work, we hope this goes beyond what we are doing today.”

Joyce Pring says “Right now I am trying to manage my time, from Unang Hirit to events, to hosting in the evening then Unang Hirit again (sometimes sleeps in the car), but I have personal block-offs for time for family and since I am covering music I’ll be in Saguijo one day and the Balloon Festival this afternoon. It is going to be my content, I get to talk to the people behind the bands and events I have to cover. It is not a set of tasks because this is ever evolving, we have a lot of stories to tell. We have youtube as partners, so the reach will be massive.”

The show starts this Monday on GMA News and Public Affairs online channels (GMA’s website and GMA’s Youtube channel) on April 15 at 8PM. You should watch it if you want to Stand for Truth.