Fourth-year students from the BA Communication (BA COM) program of the Languages and Communication Department, School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts (STELA) took part in exploring news beyond the headlines at the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) Tour and Story Conference Sit-in at the Guyito Hall, Media Resources Plaza – Makati City on 24 October 2026.
Held on the third day of the Philippine Association of Communication Educators’ (PACE) PACE of the Future Student Camp (PFSC), the tour brought together college students nationwide to learn about newsroom systems and journalism practices by seasoned reporters of Inquirer.
The Inquirer Workspace
The first portion of the tour involved a walkthrough of PDI’s offices, in which students witnessed the news outlet’s workspace setups and a lookthrough of the newspaper’s front pages containing some of the most historic stories and headlines over the course of their years in operation, in addition to their physical archive of their newspapers and magazines that date back decades.
Alenah Sabaten, a BA COM senior interning at ABS-CBN, was captivated by the outlet’s work-from-home system in particular.
“Ang advanced ng system nila (Their systems are so advanced) because even the monitors in the office were moving and displaying the work being done by their colleagues remotely.” she said.
She also noted the calmness of the workplace amidst the hectic nature of newswriting. “The atmosphere felt composed and organized. Na-realize ko na even sa industry na urgency is very important (I realized that even in an industry where urgency is very important), having a system and a good working environment really helps people do their jobs effectively.”
Story Conference Sit-in with PDI Editors
The tour also included a StoryCon Sit-in where the BA COM Seniors learned the PDI editors’ process of pitching and discussing stories, news-gathering, and story selection in the newsroom, including designating stories for the outlet’s dotnet online site, the Inquirer newspaper, and the front page.
To Satur Gawec, a BA COM senior also interning at ABS-CBN, witnessing PDI’s editorial approach and process & newsroom dynamics deepened his appreciation for journalism and printed news. “Kung nagbabasa man tayo ng newspaper usually mabilisan lang or wala much thought pero seeing behind the process of PDI, you get to appreciate more the work that gets put in releasing news. (Whenever we would read the newspaper, usually we do this in passing or don’t give much thought, but seeing behind the process of PDI, you get to appreciate more the work that gets put in releasing news.)”
The tour concluded the PACE of the Future Student Camp, an event in which Communication students from all over the country presented their team projects in various camps including Journalism, Broadcasting, Development Communication, Film, Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC), and Experiential Events, where they also received advice from industry mentors in their respective camps.
The tour was also one of many off-campus initiatives SLU BA Communication students take part in in strengthening the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). The venture also upholds the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) JEEPGY framework, namely Engaged Citizenship and Youth Empowerment, in addition to reinforcing SLU’s Core Values of Competence and Innovation. (Article by Christianne Angel Payang, SLU Communication Society | Photos by Louis Angelo Rafael, SLU Communication Society)
