Women lawyers as news anchors
Women journalists
Women lawyers as news anchors
GINGGING A. CAMPANA
Sept. 25, 2014 ( CJJ9 )
THESE lawyers caught the eye of television networks seeking co-anchors for their male news program hosts. Not just eye candy, they pull their weight and meet the issues head-on.
Atty. Rosemarie Olaño-Versoza
Olaño-Versoza: seven years a SunStar reporter.
Her background in media and law gives Rose Versoza an advantage in her news anchor job in Balitang Bisdak because she has a deeper grasp of and wider perspective on how government operates and how people work around it.
Versoza says a news anchor whose background is purely in media work tends to ask questions based on what he thinks or feels the audience wants to know. But a lawyer like her would ask more probing questions, like the cause and effect, consequences, relevance and implications of an event.
She believes GMA 7 took her in as a news anchor opposite tri-media personality Bobby Nalzaro in 2009 because of her good background and performance in media, as a Sun.Star Cebu reporter for seven years, rather than her being a lawyer.
But she said being a lawyer was a bonus because the profession makes her appear more credible to the public.
Atty. Divine Marcial-Flores
Marcial-Flores: Already in media when she became a lawyer.
Her job as a media practitioner for more than 10 years motivated Divine Marcial-Flores to become a lawyer in 2009.
A reporter and news director first on radio dyRF before joining CCTN as news manager and program host, Flores knows how to multi-task.
Her being a mother and a media practitioner at the same time does not hamper her law practice.
She finds her law profession an advantage, saying it adds to her credibility and aids her when she and fellow lawyer-host Ruphil Bañoc share opinions and discuss legal issues, laws, rights and procedures in Sayri 47, a news and public affairs program of CCTN Channel 47.
She thinks it’s just a coincidence that most women news anchors in Cebu are lawyers.
“It just happened that (two of us) were in the media before we became lawyers, so I think that’s one of the reasons.”
Atty. Georgia May Herrera-Klepp
Herrera-Klepp: Honed by a competitive news team and exposed to mentoring by co-hosts.
Her law profession helps her recognize the current issues, form opinions and ask the proper questions. The TV news anchor since 2013 says it also helps her explain the legal and technical procedures in the government and the judicial system involved in the issues.
Georgia Herrera Klepp’s news anchor job in TV5 Cebu’s Aksyon Bisaya, now with businessman Glenn Soco, is her first broadcast experience after a three-month training from former fellow anchor Frank Malilong Jr.’s radio program.
Klepp, who finished her Bachelor of International Affairs minor in European History at John Cabot University, Rome, Italy, says her newscasting skill was honed with the help of the competitive and young TV5 news team committed to delivering relevant and comprehensive news.
She also attributes her training and exposure in media to lawyer-radio hosts Malilong, Omar Redula and Briccio Boholst, and TV5 news manager Titus Borromeo. 