A more dynamic Ilocos Sentinel@14

Time flies so fast like the flight of Airbus or the speed of a bullet train.

Train and aircraft stop when they reach their specific destination.

Whereas in a newspapering job, when it comes to time and destination, there’s no stopping, no specific end of the road. Neither it could see no both ends of the rainbow on the horizon.

But when printing ink dries for good and trees are abused and partly vanished from the bowel of the earth for trees are main sources of paper, then that’s the dead end for the newspaper business.

The alternative then is the online newspaper through the internet coz many people will always crave for news and information as part of their daily lives.

So far, we’re not behind with the trend. Sentinel’s website proved that we have been online news site already for several years.

Going back to our earlier topic about the aforesaid fleeing time. Indeed, as if it was only yesterday that we saw the birth of Ilocos Sentinel in the world of print media.

Now, this week, we marked its 14th anniversary last June 19, 2019, sans fanfare.

Newspapering is a tough craft which a very few people dare to venture into this kind of business due to many justified reasons.

In the words of my better half Nannette, who painstakingly helped during the infant years of the Sentinel, she says: “It’s not easy to put up your owned newspaper if you don’t have the brains (pointing to the temple) even you have the money.”

Her opinion applies true to all struggling provincial newspapers but exempts the national dailies which are owned by tycoons who could just hire journalists and command editors (who work like carabao) to run their papers while they enjoy their millions in the comfort of their room.

My wife uttered the above remarks whenever critics belittled in the past the rookie issues of our Sentinel coz of its limited pages and size but not its intellectual contents.

When the big-mouthed critics sensed the substance and wisdom in her remarks, they meekly coiled themselves in their swivel chair and turned mum for the next repartee as our lady defender was always ready to take up the cudgels for the Sentinel against nonsense censure.

As we enter the 14th year of the Sentinel as newspaper biz, we could not help but doff our hats to our myriad of valued advertisers from the judicial courts, lawyers and business sectors, local civil registrars as well as the other government agencies and big corporate companies.

Through the continuing support of these advertisers, our paper continued to survive through thick and thin because of cash flow from their end is the major lifeblood of our newspaper trade.

Like all tri-media entities, paid advertisements are their bread and butter for survival, so to speak.

Our snappy salute also goes to our guest editorial writers, columnists, news writers, news contributors from the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Communication and Media Office (CMO) of the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN), Police Regional Office in Region 1, Ilocos Norte Police Provincial Office, all information officers of the different local and national government agencies and all others we failed to mention.

Through their published press releases, the reading public was duly informed about the vital programs and activities of the government.

In passing, we hereby give special mention of recognition to all the street newsboys who helped circulate copies of weekly issues of the Sentinel.

For many years now, free copies of the Sentinel were inserted in the pages of the different Manila daily newspapers being sold in the street to ensure copies of the Sentinel quickly reached the hands of people on the go and the reading public as a whole.

To the Laoag newsboys at the spot of Paco Roman Street which also serves like their favorite watering hole and those others who roam around the city selling the newspapers under the scorching heat of the sun or drizzle of the rain, our millions thanks to you, Boys, from the bottom of our heart.

Modesty aside, perhaps Sentinel is the only local newspaper in Ilocos doing this practice as circulation policy.

Other tabloids merely sent copies of their papers to subscribers via the postal mail which means their news and info contents were already stale when they reached the subscribers due to the unavoidable delay in transit.

Some tabloids also displayed several copies for sale in selected book store newsstands. Through this, the circulation may only be limited to the store goers, who may or may not buy for it. If that’s their style, so be it.

If the entertainers say the show must go on, come what may, we too as members of the Fourth Estate humbly say the ink of our Sentinel’s mighty pen must not go dry against all odds.

In so doing, we, the humble men and women behind this paper, vow to maintain its stature of journalistic competence, credibility, integrity, impartiality, pro-God and pro-people as we promise to bring to you, our valued readers, subscribers, and advertisers, a more dynamic Ilocos Sentinel@14. #